Death Comes for All (I Wish)
by RavensKey
Summary: 1991, Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts and Voldemort lurks in the shadows trying to regain power (you know that story). Meanwhile, the mad descendants of an even madder Dark wizard seek to find an ancient spell book which holds the key to reality itself. (Slow updates due to health issues. NOT ABANDONED)
1. Chapter 1

**This Will Cover The Whole Story**

Disclaimer: I am not JKR.

Don't steal _my_ work or characters, and if you start to not like it at any point then simply stop reading it.

Please note: This work is OC focused, Canon is background only. If this is not your kind of thing, here is your warning.

The M rating is because I am utterly ignorant as to what is "suitable" for certain ages, and I don't want my work taken down over it.

I am in the market for a Beta at the moment and would be very grateful if anyone volunteers. This will not affect my current update schedule.

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Bright July sunlight shone down on a wide street lined with houses. It was a decidedly Muggle place, in a rather well-off suburb of London, running alongside Regent's Park. It was in this place unbeknown to any, including the inhabitants, that an event that would change the fates', not of a world or of anyone of importance, but instead of a group of children was being conceived.

15 Hanover Terrace, the Atarescu family home looked very much like any one of the rows of large terraced houses that ran along Park Road. The family itself, however, was rather dissimilar from the rest of the people who lived in the fancy estate.

They were wizards, wizards from a very old Pureblood line, no less. Unlike some British Purebloods, the Atarescu's where not extraordinarily wealthy, though neither were they extremely poor, nor did they believe in purity of blood, and as such had not fought in the war that had shaken the Wizarding World in the 1970s. Indeed, the Atarescu's along with several other families, including the closely related Grecueanu's, had fled from Europe in the 1930s to escape another Dark Lord intent on ruling over Muggles in the name of Wizarding superiority: Gellert Grindelwald.

Anastase Atarescu looked up from his book with a jerk from where he was sitting on his bed reading. A dark shape had flitted across his window entering his vision in the corner of his eye.

He was a slender boy, tall for his eleven years, with shaggy black hair that often fell across his face as he peered at whatever strange object or interesting book had caught his eye. Anastase along with his little brothers, Kronid and Liniște, were frequently compared to their mother, Irinel Atarescu, a pale Romanian beauty. While Anastase certainly would have agreed with the comparison, he would have pointed out that it was not quite as ideal as many would think, Irinel may have given her sons her own good looks, but all three often felt that she would rather have had a reminder of her much loved and unfortunately deceased husband, Radoslav, than constantly see male versions of herself.

The pair of owls that had taken his attention away from the book, each clutched a letter in its talons as it swooped above the London skyline across Regent's Park. Anastase smiled, he knew what one of the owls was carrying: his Hogwarts letter! He sprang to his feet and raced out of his room.

'Mamă, can I see my letter please?', Anastase called as he ran down the stairs, excitement bubbling through him.

He came to an abrupt halt in the doorway to the kitchen. Something was wrong, he could tell. A prickling in the air and across his skin, as if his very magic could feel it and was trying to warn him.

Two letters lay on the table in front of his mother, one was perfectly innocent, the Hogwarts letter as Anastase had rightly guessed, well anticipated and long awaited by its eager recipient. The other, however, was rather less wanted and Irinel stared at the sharp, precise handwriting as if in a trance.

'Mămică, what is it? What's happened? Who is that letter from?' the questions spilt out of Anastase frantically. He could vaguely recognise the writing on the front of the second letter, though where from he couldn't say.

Irinel snatched the letter from the table and shook her head.

'It is nothing Anastase, just some news from Unchiule Camil', Irinel sounded breathless. She was frantic and attempting to hide it.

'Okay...', doubt-filled him as he watched her.

'Here, puiul meu, your Hogwarts letter', she held it out for him.

Anastase frowned as he took it, unconvinced that his mother was telling the truth. But why would she lie? It wasn't as if Unchiule Camil was involved in anything bad, and even if he was Mamă wouldn't be.

Irinel bit her lip as she watched her son's retreating back. She looked at the letter in her hand. What to do, what to do? Well, what would keep her children safe, the way she hadn't been able to keep-? She cut off the thought before it fully formed. It was better not to go there. First, Floo Lăcrămioara and ask if she had also received a letter, after that, go and see… _her_ , see if Camil had been telling the truth. If he was…what could he have done to _her_ after all this time? Irinel had sent _her_ away to keep _her_ safe from Camil, had refused to see _her_ out of fear that it might stir his interest in _her_ , but now it seemed it had done the opposite, leaving _her_ open and vulnerable to Camil's manipulation. Afterall with the staff unaware that he had been responsible for putting _her_ there, why would they keep _her_ "beloved" Uncle out? Irinel bit her lip and tried not to scream. Fear pounding through her heart as she listened to her son make his way up the stairs. She had to keep him and his brothers safe, it was her duty as a mother. A duty that she had failed at with her firstborn. Even if she had to break a thousand laws to do it, she swore to herself, even if I have to cosset and hide them from the world until they wish to kill me themselves, I will not let them be harmed. Not again, not another child of mine.

Back in his room, Anastase inspected the letter. As expected it was written on heavy, yellowish parchment paper, Anastase had always wondered how Muggle's wrote things on their thin paper without puncturing it or having the ink run everywhere.

His address: Mr V. Atarescu

Second Largest Bedroom on the Second Floor

15 Hanover Terrace

Marylebone

London

Had been written in emerald green ink. On the back was the Hogwarts crest, stamped in purple wax.

He carefully opened the envelope and pulled the letter out to read it.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Mr Atarescu,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Anastase blinked wondering what in Merlin's name a Mugwump was, presumably something to do with the International Confederation of Wizards, but still a very strange name. He glanced at the list of books and equipment:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

1\. Three sets of plain work robes (black)

2\. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3\. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4\. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)

Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring, if they desire, an owl OR a cat OR a toad.

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

Yours sincerely,

Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus

Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions

He sighed mentally. He had known that he would need a wand of course, as well as a great deal of other stuff, but getting Mamă out of the house to go to Diagon Alley was not a task he wanted, exciting though it would be to have the opportunity to see people his own age that weren't his brothers or cousins. And as for getting a pet, there were already plenty of owls in the family and the only animal Anastase had ever wanted was a Crup though they had never gotten one, first because _she_ might have hurt _herself_ with it or _she_ might have hurt **it** and then after _she_ had gone, because Mamă had to look after the twins and Anastase had been too little to care for one himself, it was good to hold out hope he reminded himself even if the chance was very, very slim.

*BANG*

Anastase gasped, leaping to his feet in shock as the door crashed open.

'Have you got it?'

The excitement radiating from the twins was so strong that it might have been their Hogwarts letter that had come rather than his, Anastase thought with amusement.

'Da mai mici, I have. Here it is', as he spoke he held it out for them, they always liked to know everything, including their older brother's post.

Liniște grinned, taking it from him. Kronid leaned on his shoulder to read it.

After a second Kronid peered up at Anastase in confusion, 'What's a Mugwump?' he asked quizzically.

Anastase burst out laughing, 'I said the same thing when I saw it', he explained, 'It must be something to do with the International Confederation of Wizards, you see'. Anastase pointed to the words following the odd title, 'They can't be saying that Director Dumbledore is the ICoW, that would be stupid.'

'Da, I see', Kronid nodded happily to the explanation.

Liniște rolled his eyes at his twin's idiocy, 'You're going to have to go to Diagon Alley for all this', he said nodding at the list, 'Do you think Mamă will let us come with you?'

'No, of course not', Anastase snorted, 'She'll probably send you to Unchiule Mircea and Mătușa Lăcrămioara, at least you'll be able to see Decebal and Simu while you're there though.'

None of them had their cousins for ages, particularly since Decebal now spent most of the year at Hogwarts, he would be going into his third year come September. He would be good company for Anastase as he settled in.

Liniște huffed in frustration, 'Why is it that Mamă never goes anywhere? I mean, we don't see anyone except family.'

'I don't know Lini, she used to, before Tata died, and before ... her', Anastase paused. He'd always tried not to think about his mother's oddities, the whole family's oddities now that he thought about it. After all, before Decebal had gone to Hogwarts he'd only ever really known them, though he and Simu hadn't been quite as isolated as their cousins, 'I asked once a long time ago, but she just got angry with me', Anastase remembered Irinel shouting at him that it was for their own good and to just do as they were told.

Privately Anastase thought that doing what one was told sometimes was fine but always? No, thinking for yourself was always better, and good luck trying to get the twins to do anything they don't want to, you might as well argue with a rock, they were that stubborn.

The brothers fell silent, contemplating their odd relatives.

Why were they so strange, Anastase wondered, what made them different? Sure, they weren't native to Britain but Bunica and Bunicul had moved from Romania in 1940! Long before Mamă or any of their parents for that matter, had been born.

They lived in a fairly normal house, a large London townhouse to be exact -it might not be what most would call standard but it had been bought by his bunicii, unchi de-al doilea, and mare mătușa almost sixty years ago and as they'd sold most of their possessions to get to Britain in the first place, with the help of magic, and the reasoning that it meant their future family would be able to live in comfort, they had pooled their money together and managed to buy the rather expensive house-, but price aside, seeing as it was surrounded by other terraced homes, you could hardly call it odd. They ate normal food -British even! Though Mamă did sometimes cook Romanian dishes -again not anything unusual for a Romania family, normal clothes – for wizards anyway, Anastase wouldn't want to go out into the Muggle world wearing robes, it might cause a few strange looks, and everything else, he thought looking around his – normal – room, it had a bed, wardrobe, bookcase, even a clock on the wall. Anastase snorted out loud at his own sarcastic thoughts.

Liniște was staring at him, 'What did you snort for?'

'I was thinking about how we live so normally – normal house, normal things, we're not even really rich or anything like some British purebloods, just normal!' He waved his arms around to encompasses his room, 'Some people might think we are rich because of the house but obviously, they've never been in it.' Despite their grandparents hopes for a new life, neither family had become fabulously wealthy and many of the rooms in the house were unused and unfurnished.

'Except most children our age have friends that they go out and meet', Kronid pointed out, 'We just sit in our rooms and read or sometimes go and see our cousins That's not normal.'

'But it's not like we've ever thought about that until now is it?' Anastase said, 'Until we sat down and started talking, it was just normal as well. Do you think Decebal and Simu noticed when Decebal got his letter too? I mean it's not just us imagining things?'

'Okay,' Liniște sounded very determined, 'Here's what we'll do: Kronid and me-'

'Kronid and I!'

'Yes that' Liniște rolled his eyes again at his brother's nit-picking, 'We'll ask Mamă if we can come with you to Diagon if she says yes then we're probably imagining things, but if she says no then we'll ask Decebal and Simu what they think when we see them. Alright?'

'And here I thought I was the big brother!'

You are,' Liniște snapped, 'But I'm smarter and we all know it!'

Anastase huffed but stayed silent. He did know it. Although he'd always loved reading and learning, and even smuggled old books out of the family vault when he was little, all he'd ever done with them was stuff them under his bed – the twins would probably have read them, and understood every word too. Unfortunately, that just made them extremely obnoxious about things when they could outsmart everyone.

'Okay, now we have a plan. So, who wants to go ask Mum about going to Diagon?' Kronid inquired, 'Because not me.'

'Nope, not me either', Anastase bolted the words out hastily, 'It was your plan Liniște you ask.' He certainly wasn't going to get lumped into doing his little brother's work.

Liniște smirked, 'But you actually need to go to Diagon, so you ask her that and then I'll ask about us going too.'

He had a fair point there, Anastase admitted to himself, twins investigation or not he'd have to ask, he might as well please his brothers while he was at it, there was no point having them hold a grudge against him.

'Fine, that sounds okay to me', Anastase's agreement was slightly tentative, after all, he didn't want to agree to anything stupid, did he?

'Baieți!'

Their mother's yell took them by surprise. Kronid let out a yelp, Anastase leapt off the bed and Liniște stumbled backwards and hit his head on Anastase's bookcase.

'Dinner's ready'.

They shared embarrassed looks as Irinel, rather than berate them about weird talk of strange family, instead called them down to eat.

Anastase carefully filed the memory away for future reference, it wasn't often that you got to see either of the twins of taken aback.

'You go on ahead', Liniște ordered drawing up his dignity as best he could, 'We don't want her to think we've been up to something, and you're never late.'

'I think you're taking this far too seriously', Anastase replied, 'I'm sure that Mamă wouldn't think we were up to anything if we did come down together, but fine.' He held his hands up in surrender as Kronid started to retort at him.

Anastase left his room and went down the stairs. Entering the kitchen, he saw that his mother looked far more composed than she had when he'd left.

He paused again, then safe in the knowledge that she didn't know about his discussion with his brothers asked, 'Mamă, we'll have to go to Diagon Alley to get my Hogwarts stuff soon. When can we go?'

Irinel smiled, 'It's so nice to see you excited about this, normally you're just apathetic. We can go tomorrow if the weather's good. I'll get you an ice cream too – if you behave!' She ruffled his hair as she spoke.

Anastase dodged her finger's, 'Really!' That was easy. Almost too easy but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not when he'd thought that getting Mamă out of the house would be like pulling out teeth, Anastase had learned that particular phrase from a Muggle book and rather liked the grotesque image it formed.

'Yes, really but eat your dinner first then we can talk more about what we'll do. Also, Kronid! Liniște! Dinner's ready! Come down soon or it'll be cold! Honestly, what are they doing?' Irinel rolled her eyes in exasperation at her ever experimenting and inquisitive sons.

'Coming Mamă, coming!'

Anastase couldn't tell which of the twins had made the breathless yell but they'd done a brilliant job of sounding like they'd just been yanked away from an important problem they were trying to solve rather than sitting on his bed. Although in their minds working out Mamă's behaviour might qualify as an important problem that needed to be worked out.

Feet pounded on the stairs as the twins raced down. The door banged open before they flung themselves into their seats.

Anastase doubled over laughing at them, while Irinel frowned.

'No need to break down the house baieți.'

'Sorry Mamă', Kronid squeaked burying himself in his bowl.

Anastase clicked his tongue at the sight, Kronid had always been the most expressive of the twins, when they were little Mamă used to describe them as "a Head and Heart split in two" until Kronid had proven to be almost as controlled as Liniște though more easily ruffled.

'Kronid?' Irinel's tone was bemused.

Kronid blinked at her, 'Yes, Mamă?'

'You do realise that I haven't served you your soup yet, that bowl is empty', Irinel looked like she wanted to join Anastase in laughing.

Kronid's face flamed red, 'Uh, of course, Mamă'.

Liniște glared at him for a minute, before Anastase kicked him under the table. Liniște could, Anastase mused, be a bit insensitive, though that wasn't to say Kronid couldn't be either just not quite as much.

The atmosphere at the table was light as Irinel served food and they chattered about their day.

'Anastase got his Hogwarts letter today', Liniște started, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

'Yes, he did', Irinel eyed her son, hearing the beginning of a request.

'So, you need to go shopping for his stuff, don't you?' Liniște widened his eyes as he spoke, looking as innocent as he could.

'Where is this going Lini? Please just spit it out', Irinel was starting to sound irritated.

'Can Kronid and I come with you?', Liniște had apparently decided to throw caution to the wind, 'Please Mamă, we never go anywhere!'

'We'll be really good too. Promise', Kronid chimed in, his voice wheedling.

'No', Irinel's tone was one of finality.

'Mamă! Please!' But it wasn't like either of the twins was known for being reasonable.

'No. You're not coming', Irinel raised her voice angrily.

'Why? What is it that you're so afraid of? You do realise that we'll be getting Hogwarts letters ourselves in two years' time, don't you?', Liniște gazed into Irinel's eyes unblinkingly as he spoke, 'You'll have to let us out eventually, why do two years matter so much?'

'I am your mother', Irinel shouted, 'I will not be questioned like this! You will do as you're told! You are not coming to Diagon Alley with your brother! As you pointed out you will be going to Hogwarts in two years' time so just be patient!' she paused her voice shaking with fury, 'You will both stay at your aunt and uncle's house. You can spend some time with your cousins while Anastase and I shop. Now go to your rooms both of you. I can't look at you another minute'.

The twins meet each other's gaze and silently left the room, clearly not chastened in the least and planning to rip apart and analyse every bit of the conversation.

Anastase tried to creep after them, before freezing half out of his seat at his mother voice.

'No, Anastase stay here. Let's not allow your brothers to spoil your big day', she fairly snapped at him.

Anastase sank back into his chair nervously.

'Okay Mamă', he whispered meekly.

Irinel frowned but tried to recover the happy atmosphere, 'Now, what do you want to do while we're out?' her tone had become light and affectionate, 'Obviously, we need to go to Gringotts, Ollivanders, and Flourish and Blots but do you want to get some new robes while we're there? Maybe get some different ingredients at the apothecaries so you can do some experiments, I know you love those'.

Anastase perked up slightly, also trying to pretend nothing had happened, 'That sounds wonderful, Mamă. We can also get Zgripțor some owl treats, after all, he's going to be travelling further if I'm at Hogwarts, isn't he? And didn't you say that we could get some ice cream too?'

'Yes, Anastase if your good we can stop at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour', Irinel smiled, 'I remember when I was your age and that place seemed like the best in the world, until Hogwarts of course, and then Honeydukes in Hogsmeade if you were Radoslav or Camil. Zgripţor will appreciate some treats too, especially now, because you're right he's not used to flying as far as Scotland. If we have time we can even go and see your sister'.

'… Really? That's great', Anastase stammered.

Ice cream and his father's favourite shops were all very well and good, and Zgripţor did deserve some treats, even if he was a grumpy old owl. His sister on the other hand, well obviously not just his but he was the only one of the brothers who actually remembered Luminița. Why did Mamă want to go and see _her_? Anastase hadn't seen _her_ since he was four years old. The twins had never seen _her_ , Mamă and Tata had made sure to keep _he_ r away from them. That was why _she_ 'd had to go in the end. Tata had died and Mamă couldn't look after both _her_ and the twins.

'Yes, she's a bit better now. I'm sure she'll be glad to see us both', Irinel seemed far too cheerful as she informed him of this, especially as Anastase was pretty sure that no one ever sent her updates on Luminița's mental state.

Not to mention that a bit better didn't mean much. Not when Anastase could remember how bad _she_ 'd been. Luminița was only 2 years older than him but _she_ had terrified him when _she_ 'd lived at home. He'd been so happy when _she_ was gone. As for being glad to see them – well, after seven years _she_ 'd probably been desperate to see anyone – family or otherwise. In fact, considering family were the ones who sent _her_ away _she_ was more likely to hate them.

'Yes, I'm sure she be so happy', Anastase grinned broadly with a hint of despair, 'I can't wait to see her'.

He then yawned widely before blinking sleepily. Please let her think that I'm really tired, he thought, as he lifted his hand to cover his mouth, deliberately relaxing his muscles to appear droopy and limp.

'Oh, Anastase! I didn't realise how late it was. You must be so tired. Better get to bed quickly if you want to be awake tomorrow', Irinel burbled. Unlike Anastase she clearly believed everything she had said.

'Yes, Mamă. I'll go to bed now', Anastase repeated her words stiffly before he nearly bolted upstairs.

Scrambling across the landing and into the bathroom he got ready for bed quicker than he ever had before.

As expected, he had only just gotten into his bedroom, closed the door and sat down when it opened again, and the twins entered peering inquisitively at him.

'What happened?' Liniște demanded.

No sooner had he asked than Kronid interrupted, 'Why did you come up so fast?'

The twins spoke over each other in their eagerness.

'Wait, wait. I'll explain in a minute', Anastase sighed as he tried to get a word in edgeways, 'Anyway, Mamă's definitely up to something, between trying to keep you two away from everything, the letter from Uncle Camil-'

'Wait yourself!' Kronid exclaimed, 'What's this about Uncle Camil?'

'Didn't I tell you? When I went down to get my letter Mamă was sitting at the table looking at a letter from Uncle Camil. She looked…scared, I think. I asked if something was wrong and she said no but I'm sure she was lying', Anastase explained, 'Well between that, plus she wants to go and see…her'.

'Her, as in **her** her', Liniște inquired slowly.

'Yes, Liniște. That her', Anastase scrubbed a hand over his face, 'Our sister. Luminița. I don't know why she suddenly wants to see her after 7 years, but she does.'

The twins, having never known their sister, were understandably fascinated by _her_. _She_ was like a monster under the bed. Someone who wasn't quite real the way other people were.

'Are you actually going to see her?' Liniște repeated as if asking enough times would change the answer.

'Yes, I am', Anastase's voice sounded numb to his own ears.

'Does she even know we exist?', Kronid asked, 'I mean we didn't know she existed until last year for Moșul's sake.'

'I don't know, she might not. Even if someone told her, she might not remember. When she lived here, sometimes she didn't know who I was, and she actually saw me', Anastase shuddered at the memory, 'She's never seen you though.'

Luminița's mad, confused voice as she grabbed at him, demanding to know who he was and what he wanted with her, his own panic, Mamă pulling them apart, and Tata doing his best to hold the family together. It had been after his death that things had really fallen apart and Luminița had been sent to St Mungo's.

'It's so weird! All this happening at the same time. It's like something's happened, something bigger than all of us, something that's caused all of this', Liniște said softly.

'Yes, it is', Anastase whispered, 'But what?'

The conversation quickly trailed off after that and when they heard Irinel start to make her way up the stairs the twins left hurriedly for their own room.

Anastase lay awake in bed staring at the ceiling. Liniște was right, something was going on, but what? Why them? Their family? But there was nothing unusual about the Atarescu or the Grecueanu families. They were just two of many Romanian families that had fled their native country in the wake of Gellert Grindelwald's takeover and never gone back after it was freed. It was a story that had repeated itself many times over in Central and Eastern Europe during and after the Global Wizarding War.

Unable to sleep he got up and walked over to the windowsill where he'd left his Hogwarts letter. At the end, it had mentioned awaiting his owl, but between the twins barging in on him, the resultant discussion, and then Mamă calling him down to dinner, he hadn't had time to reply. Retrieving a quill, some ink, and a sheaf of parchment, he sat back down on the bed and composed his letter.

Dear Professor McGonagall,

I have received my Hogwarts letter, and accept my place at the school.

Yours Sincerely

Anastase Atarescu

He read through it, the Hogwarts letter hadn't been very clear about what exactly they'd wanted in response but a simple acknowledgement that he'd got the letter and that he was going to arrive at the school come next term seemed to cover it.

Happy with the content, Anastase rolled it up, tied a bit of string around it, and placed it on his bookshelf. He'd give it to Mamă to send off with Zgripțor tomorrow, yet another reason to buy the family owl some treats while they were shopping.

Having calmed himself down Anastase could now see how stupidly overdramatic and irrational he'd been, in fact, he was quite surprised that Kronid and Liniște, normally so unemotional, had been caught up by fright. It was, he reasoned, simply a side effect of them being excited about the Hogwarts letter and then running away with themselves over another letter, wanting it to be just as interesting as the first, besides maybe Mamă had been upset because something bad had happened to Unchiule Camil, not that he was involved in something bad, and even that was pushing it.

No, Anastase thought firmly as he flopped back into bed, it was nothing to do with their families. It was plain and simply bad luck that the current generation of grown-ups was more than slightly batty, he decided, besides if it were really that bad then someone would have noticed, wouldn't they?

Having successfully reassured himself that he and the twins were seeing things that weren't there, Anastase rolled over, pulled his pillow over his head and went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Waking up the next morning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Anastase had nearly forgotten the wild theories and discussions he and the twins had come up with the day before, that was until Liniște poked his head around the bedroom door and dropped his elder brother back to earth with an unpleasant bump.

'Remember to act normal while you're out with Mamă!' he hissed quietly.

'Did you have to remind me?' Anastase demanded, 'I'd almost managed to convince myself that I'd just dreamed the utter idiocy we came up with. I mean "Somethings happened", "isolating relatives"? What a load of rubbish! If you go to Decebal and Simu about it, I'll die of shame!'

After going through the calming motions of writing his letter all of his fears had vanished, but now they'd been replaced with sheer embarrassment!

'Anastase! I thought you trusted that I am smarter than you?' Liniște planted his hands on his hips and glared at him.

'Not anymore!' Anastase hiss-shrieked at his brother.

'Well, even if you don't, Kronid and I are still going to do it', Liniște had an obstinate expression on his face as he paused, 'And if you're going to have a mental breakdown about it at least you'll be in the right place won't you? If you're going to see Luminița that is.'

'Why you…', Anastase trailed off in frustrated admiration. This was why you always had to watch what you said around the twins, they could twist everything you said until you ended up confusing and insulting yourself, though on the other hand, 'Liniște don't let Mamă hear you making jokes about going crazy unless you want to be gutted. It's not funny.'

'I'm aware of that but it's not as if you care, do you?' Liniște countered, 'Now that your little tantrum is out of the way-'

'That's beside the point and I did not have a tantrum!' Anastase argued back hotly.

'Yes, you did but never mind that', Liniște dismissed him, 'Just act as if yesterday didn't happen alright. Then while you're having fun, we'll start asking the cousins what they think okay?'

'Fine', Anastase grumbled, 'But if they think that you're crazy, I am taking no blame. I tried to stop you.'

'And if they think we're right then we get bragging rights', Liniște already sounded insufferably smug.

'Agreed' Anastase ground out between his teeth.

Liniște snuck out of the room and back across the landing while Anastase got out of bed. Pulling on his slippers and straightening the duvet cover, he left his room, padded across the landing, and headed downstairs.

Irinel was in the kitchen as expected making breakfast. It looked like eggs on toast today, very British as opposed to the Romanian fair she sometimes served.

'Did you sleep well Anastase?' she asked as she handed him his plate.

'Yes, Mamă. Like a log', he mumbled through a mouthful of egg.

'Don't talk with your mouth full of food. I can see everything in there!'

'Oops, sorry', Anastase replied showing a second flash of semi-chewed breakfast.

Irinel sighed, boys would be boys, no matter what you did. She turned back to the worktop and had just picked up the remaining plates and turned around when the twins stumbled into the room.

'Here you are baieți. I'm guessing you did not have such a good night's sleep then', she raised an eyebrow at their dishevelled appearance.

'The pair of you look like zombies', Anastase laughed. In the dim light of the bedroom, he hadn't seen how tired Liniște looked, knowing them they'd stay awake half the night coming up with more ideas, something that the dark circles under their eyes could attest to.

After breakfast, Anastase hurriedly got dressed and was downstairs and ready to leave by 10 o' clock.

'Anastase, there was no need to get ready so fast', Irinel scolded, 'Your brothers are nowhere near done yet and we have to wait until Mircea and Lăcrămioara arrive.'

'That's okay Mamă', Anastase reassured her, 'I need to go out to the owlery and send the reply to my Hogwarts letter before we leave.'

He went through the back door and walked down the garden path towards the small stone building where Zgripțor and his elderly mother, Vântoase, who was no longer used for sending mail, lived.

As Anastase entered he was greeted by a harsh screech, 'Hello, Vântoase. I'm here for Zgripțor today.'

The large Eagle Owl swooped down from his perch as if he understood Anastase's words, and landed on a small table to allow Anastase to attach the letter to his leg.

Anastase ran a hand over his smooth feathers, 'It's the reply to my Hogwarts letter', he informed the owl, 'So you'll be going much further than normal, I'm afraid, but I am buying you some treats today.'

Zgripțor hooted at him as if to say, "You'd better!" and Anastase laughed.

Wandering back to the house he found that the twins were still not ready and nor had Unchiule Mircea and Mătușa Lăcrămioara appeared yet, so he went up to his to get the book he'd been reading the day before and plonked himself down on the front steps to continue it as he waited for his brothers to get ready and his aunt and uncle to get here.

Half an hour of boredom and three chapters of his book later, and both the twins and their aunt and uncle had arrived and were ready to go.

'Hello, now I'm sure you want to be off, soon don't you?' Mircea, a short stocky man with dark copper hair liberally streaked with white, has a booming sort of voice and was in Anastase's opinion the most opposite person you could get from someone like Lăcrămioara, who shared her sister's tall slender frame and dark hair.

'Be good both of you and say hello to your cousins for us', Irinel reminded the twins as Mircea steered them out of the house.

She then turned to her sister, 'I hope they behave themselves. They don't mean to be bad but they're just so inquisitive!'

'Don't worry soră. We have our own children, we know exactly what it's like', Lăcrămioara reassured her. She was much softer than Irinel Anastase noticed, more gentle and motherly.

'I know, I'm their mother, I have a right to worry', Irinel said. She almost sounded like she was answering Anastase's thoughts about her.

Shaking that disturbing thought out of his head he called out, 'Are we going Mamă?!'

'Oh dear. I'd better go Lăcrămioara', Irinel sent a quelling look in her son's direction.

'Rămas bun, soră. Have a nice day out', Lăcrămioara waved.

'Rămas bun!' Irinel replied cheerfully.

Irinel walked back over to Anastase, 'We're going now. Remember hold tight.'

Anastase gasped her hand and closed his eyes as the sharp twisting and squeezing sensation of Side-Along Apparition surrounded him.

He opened his eyes with a gasp as they arrived. Stumbling on impact he barely grabbed onto Irinel's arm in time to stop himself from falling flat on his face.

'Oh dear, you've never been good with landings', Irinel said as she pulled him upright, 'I remember when you were five and went through the Floo the first time – nearly gave Mircea a heart attack.'

Anastase dusted himself off and looked around, they were standing in the small courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron just in front of the wall that led into the Alley. Irinel drew her wand and briskly tapped the brick that opened up the archway.

Anastase looked around as they entered, thinking of all the places they needed to go to.

'Are we going to Gringotts first?' he asked. The bank was unmistakable, towering as the white marble building did over all of the others.

'Yes, I have a bit of money with me but not enough to get everything,' Irinel explained, 'If you want I can give you some, so you can start shopping rather than come with me.'

'No, I want to look in the vault and see if I can find any old books, I've read most of the ones at home.' Indeed, the only books Anastase hadn't read was the one he was currently reading and the other old ones still under his bed.

'Ah, I see' Irinel nodded mock sagely. As somebody who was rather less of a bookworm that her sons she didn't quite understand the complete boredom that came with having no new books to read.

Anastase grinned at her as they walked up the steps, passed the scowling goblin guard, and through the doors.

'They love giving wizards ominous warnings, don't they?', Anastase noted, glancing at the engraving on the second pair of doors.

'Well, they have a good reason. There have been numerous Goblin Rebellions against wizards, so they like to keep the things they control very much theirs.'

He nodded as they walked up to the counter where Irinel handed the key to one of the tellers, who called over another goblin to lead them down to the vault. Walking through one of the many doors leading out of the main hall of the bank, they entered a narrow, sharply sloped stone passage that was lit by torches. Waiting on a set of railway tracks was a small cart. After getting in Anastase couldn't help but whoop slightly as it picked up speed, taking hairpin turns around stalagmites and stalactites. His eyes watered slightly as the air rushed into them, he didn't have a clue how any of the goblins knew where anything was down here, it was a complete maze, and the cart seemed to steer itself. He idly wondered what would happen if a cart ever broke down, would the people trapped just starve, or could the goblins get them back to the surface?

Once they reached the vault Anastase immediately made a beeline for the bookshelves at the back while Irinel put some money into her bag. He pulled out a couple of interesting looking spell books: Focuri ale Războiului, which seemed to be about fire spells, and The Ways of Change, a book on Transfiguration. Hopefully, they'd be a bit more interesting than the last lot of books he'd taken(stolen) from the vault which had been a mix of so boring that it boggled the mind, way over his then five-year-old head, and in a completely foreign language.

'Are you done yet?', Irinel called, 'I've got the money.'

'Yes, I'm done Mamă.' Anastase scrambled back to the door, the last thing he wanted was to get shut in. As far as he knew the goblins only checked the vaults for intruders every ten years or so, after which he would be long dead. Although, he did like to think that Mamă would notice his absence long before then. He grinned at his own silly thoughts.

Once they were out of Gringotts they decided to work out where they would go next.

'I think Flourish and Blotts is where we need to get the most so let's go there first to get it over and done with', Irinel began.

'But then we'll have to carry it all around with us', Anastase pointed out, 'If we leave it 'till last we can go straight home. Besides I want to get my wand!'

'Well, let's go to Ollivanders then', Irinel led the way down the street further into the Alley.

Ollivanders was a small shabby looking place, with Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC written in faded gold paint over the door, a single lonely wand layout as a window display. Anastase wrinkled his nose slightly, the building certainly looked like it had been around since 382 BC, hopefully, the wands did not.

A bell tinkled as they entered the shop, and Anastase sneezed as a cloud of dust flew up in his face.

'I guess he doesn't get many customers apart from first-year students, does he?' Anastase coughed as he looked around the shop. All that could be seen in front of the counter was a single room that was crammed from floor to ceiling with boxes of wands. 'After all, not many adult wizards need wands unless they get broken or stolen, and you'd have to be pretty stupid for that to happen', a wand was the most important item a wizard could own and Anastase shuddered to think of anybody losing theirs.

'Very well surmised Mr Atarescu', a soft voice wisped out of the darkness.

Anastase yelped and jumped backwards onto his mother feet as a silvery eyed old man materialised in front of him out of the gloom at the back of the shop.

'Irinel Grecueanu, 12 and a quarter inches, ash and dragon heartstring, yes?' the old man peered at Irinel intently.

'Of course, Ollivander', Irinel said, her voice was high pitched, and her eyes watered slightly as she rubbed her toes from where Anastase has lept on them, 'The day you forget a wand is the day the world ends! Although I've married and been widowed since then I'm afraid so it's Irinel Atarescu now.'

'Ah yes', Ollivander nodded, 'Now let me see, hmm.' He eyed Anastase up and down before pulling a tape measure out. 'What is your wand arm?'

'My right, Mr Ollivander', Anastase held it out to him.

'As I'm sure you know, all wands are different as are the creatures they come from, and it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the other way around', Ollivander stated as he flitted between shelves collecting boxes.

Anastase tried to both nod and keep himself still as the tape continued measuring him before giving up.

'That's enough', Ollivander informed the tape as he returned. It dropped back to the floor limply. 'Try this now. Maple and unicorn hair. 11 inches. Nice and flexible.'

He snatched it away before Anastase had finished raising it. Replacing it with, 'Cypress and phoenix feather. 8 and a half inches. Firm.'

This too was discarded before finally, 'Yew and dragon heartstring. 13 inches. Ridged but brittle.'

Anastase felt a rush of magic through his veins before bright silver sparks shot from the wand's tip.

'Very good, very good', Ollivander cried happily, 'A quick discovery often means that you know yourself very well, which is a very handy skill to have, not many people do. Though', his tone shifted abruptly, suddenly becoming serious, 'I must give you a word of warning, wands choose their wizards well, and I believe that you are someone who would break before bending to anything. You might wish to change that one day, such force of will is admirable but it can also be very dangerous – to yourself and others.'

'No need to scare him now Ollivander', Irinel scolded, '7 Galleons for the wand isn't it?'

'Indeed, indeed' Ollivander continued to mutter under his breath as Irinel paid.

Anastase shivered as they left. 'He's a bit strange.'

'All the oldest and most powerful wizards are.', Irinel said, 'It's something to do with their power I think, it makes them go slightly mad.'

Anastase pondered this as they headed down the street towards Eeylops Owl Emporium to get Zgripțor his treats. It kind of made sense after all Grindelwald and Voldemort, the two most infamous Dark wizards in the last century, had been both extremely powerful and extremely mad. He was so deep in thought that he nearly wandered straight past the Emporium until his mother grabbed him by the arm to steer him in.

Five minutes later they were back in the Alley walking towards Madam Malkin's for his new robes.

'Hello, there,' Madame Malkin a short, squat witch smiled as she greeted them, 'Hogwarts dear?'

'Yes, and we'll take some regular day clothes too, he's been growing like a weed the past few months', Irinel commented, 'He also needs the hat and protective gloves, I'm afraid we can be a bit lacks with potions safety at home.'

'Oh, who isn't? After all, we're not making the dangerous stuff that the professionals do' Madam Malkin responded with a chuckle.

Anastase hopped onto a stool as Madame Malkin slipped a robe over his head and started tucking and pinning it to size.

'Any particular favourite colour or just a general selection?', she asked.

'I like dark colours best', Anastase mused, 'But I don't mind too much, except maybe bright orange or something.'

'No neons then', Madam Malkin laughed.

'Or pastels', Irinel added, 'Years of dressing myself have told me that it simply makes me look like a ghoul and all of the sons have inherited my colouring!'

The two women gossiped between themselves as Anastase was tucked, pinned, and fitted into his new clothing.

Anastase was in high spirits when they left Madam Malkin's for the Apothecary. He grinned as they entered. He liked making potions but what he really loved was experimenting, of course, not all of his experiments were successful – he'd lost eyebrows more than once – and Mamă never let him work alone, but it was still excellent fun. Having a full stock of ingredients before he went to Hogwarts where there would be so many more books to read and things to do was, is his opinion, vital.

Anastase inhaled the musty, sulfuric smell of the place as they walked in, it reminded him of the scent of the potions room they had at home, though the plethora of colourful feathers and ropes of fangs and claws hanging from the ceiling was different. He went to the back of the shop to search for the more unusual items while Irinel asked the shop assistant for the basic set. Now, what did he need? Or rather what did he want? After all none of this was on the Hogwarts list. Aconite, wormwood, asphodel, Mandrake…all very dangerous and all used in the most tricky and interesting potions. He grabbed some anyway, you never knew what you might need, and Mamă was hardly going to stop him. He also took some valerian, lacewing flies, beetle eyes, and Jabberknoll feathers to disguise the more suspect objects.

He hauled the bag over to Irinel who handed it to the assistant, while the man was checking the price of the ingredients, Anastase wandered about examining the bundles of herbs and jars of powders that lined the front of the shop. He had just started poking at a silver Unicorn horn when Irinel finished paying for their purchases and called him away from it.

Stepping out of the shop, Irinel turned to her son, 'Anastase don't think I didn't see what you had in there, I won't stop you but be careful. Remember, Decebal is at Hogwarts if anything happens that you don't want the professors to know about, go to him.'

'I'm always careful!' Anastase protested, 'And of course I'll go to Decebal if I need to – he's my cousin!'

'It's just a reminder and please try not to get caught', Irinel begged, or, she thought, better yet don't do anything that might require you getting caught, 'Now, do you want to get ice cream now or shall we do Flourish and Blotts first?'

'Ice cream, please, I'm starving!'

The pair happily settled down outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour where Anastase ordered a cherry and coconut sundae.

'Having a good day then', Irinel asked, watching him tuck into the sundae.

'Yes, today's been brilliant! I got a couple of books out of the vault, I have loads of new ingredients, we've still got to go to the bookshop, and I'm eating ice cream!' Anastase declared, 'Not to mention Zgripțor has his treats so he'll be happy too. Though I just realised that we're going to need some more quills and ink, I forgot about that last night.'

Irinel nodded thoughtfully, 'Yes, we will and while we're here do you want to get your brothers anything?'

'Oh', Anastase gasped, 'I forgot that too! They would have killed me! I'll get them some books on Ancient Runes, Kronid was going on about how we didn't have any at home, and I know Liniște wanted a Lunascope, so I'll get him one of those as well.'

'We'll have to go to Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment for the Lunascope and Scribbulus Writing Implements for your quills and ink, and parchment before I forget that', Irinel listed.

'Mamă?' Anastase started uncertainly.

'What?' Irinel looked up from her parchment.

'On the Hogwarts list, it says that you can bring a pet, and I love Zgripțor but he's not mine and-. Could we get a pet? A Crup like I wanted when I was little?' He stopped, looking at the ground, feeling a red flush crawl up the back of his neck.

'Oh, Anastase', Irinel breathed, 'Oh, I wish I could say yes but…um, maybe when you're a bit older. Now, it just isn't a good time to bring a pet into the family. I'm sorry.'

'It's fine Mamă', Anastase mumbled, 'I knew you probably wouldn't say yes anyway but I…just wanted to try.'

'If not for…', Irinel trailed off, 'Well, never mind, it's a shame but if anything changes next year, perhaps we can see about getting one, alright?'

'Really?' Anastase stared, 'Okay, that's great!'

Irinel smiled, 'Ready to go to get your lovely books now?'

Anastase finished his sundae quickly and eagerly headed towards Flourish and Blotts while Irinel paid for the ice cream. He smiled as he entered and the scent of books, old and new, wafted over him. As in Ollivanders the shelves were floor to ceiling and packed full, however, they were far more neatly laid out and filled with books rather than wands of course. And what a range there was: books as big as paving slabs, and ones as small as Muggle stamps, books of leather and silk, books who contents changed, and more!

He started to peruse the shelves picking out the ones on his school list: The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1), Magical Theory, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Those were all he needed, they had the rest: A History of Magic, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, at home. Course books in hand he started looking at the rest of the shop. First, he went to the Ancient Runes section picking out three books that he thought would keep Kronid occupied of a while, then he wandered over to the history books: Recent Developments in Wizarding History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Hogwarts: A History…the list went on and by the time Irinel found Anastase he was heavily laden down with over a dozen books.

'If you get any more you'll break something, like your back or the bank!' Irinel exclaimed.

'I'm finished now', Anastase huffed in response, dumping the stack onto the counter with a loud grunt. The books made solid thump as they hit the countertop, which made a wild-haired girl jump and frown at him in disapproval. Anastase rolled his eyes at her, what a stuck-up git, he thought, she couldn't have been any older than him.

'A Ravenclaw if I've ever seen one', said the witch behind the counter, 'I imagine he'll have read them by the end of summer.'

'That's him alright', Irinel agreed, 'And I've got another two just like him if not worse! If I'd brought them all in, we'd have never left!'

They both laughed at Anastase's disgruntled expression as they ignored his protest that not all of the books were for him, not to mention he had to get most of them for Hogwarts, he'd only added a few more.

'Right, now we just need stationary and Lunascope and we're done here', Irinel said, checking her list.

Scribbulus Writing Implements had every type of quill and ink that Anastase could think of ranging from gaudy Peacock feathers to sleek Raven, and simple black ink to Ever-Changing and Spell-Checking.

'Let's get you 10 quills, that should do you for a good long while. How about these nice Eagle feather ones?' Irinel pointed to a stand full of handsome dark grey quills with golden edges.

'Those are nice, but I also like these black Raven ones, maybe 5 of each? I'll also have some Spell-Checking ink, it'll come in handy for essays', Anastase suggested.

Purchases in hand they made their way to Wiseacre's to get Liniște's Lunascope.

A bright flashing sign directed them to the main entrance and Anastase blinked as walked in. The multi-story shop was bustling with people buying everything from cookware to cauldrons and was incredibly noisy.

'Hey, Sir, could you help us?' Irinel called an assistant over.

The plump man turned to her, a look of annoyance flitted across his face for a second before disappearing, 'Of course Madam. What can I do for you?'

'We're looking for a Lunascope', Anastase informed him, 'Where can we find one? Because neither of us had any desire to search this whole shop.'

'Right, it should be just along here somewhere', the man lead them down a floor and through several aisles.

'Oh, ah, um', he trailed off as he noted the distinct lack of anything even vaguely astronomy related on the shelves.

Ten minutes, a bit of foot tapping from Irinel, and a large number of sighs from Anastase, they found themselves on the other side of the shop looking at telescopes.

'It looks very useful doesn't it?', Anastase said as he finally spotted the Lunascope sitting on the shelf. Wiseacre's was huge and highly disorganised, and the poor shop assistant had looked ready to pull his hair out in despair if it'd taken one more minute to find it.

'Oh, it certainly is young man, no more need for old Moon charts with this. You can save so much time-'

'We'll take it', Irinel spoke hastily to prevent the man from going off on a spiel.

Anastase scoffed, who was he to talk about saving time when he'd just wasted theirs sending them on a wild goose chase around the shop.

As Irinel paid for the Lunascope the man tried to persuade them to buy a half-priced crystal ball, an antique pensive – only 100 Galleons, and a set of Astrology books that were apparently an incredibly rare Muggle made edition from before the Stature of Secrecy.

'They're very messy in there', Anastase said feeling slightly bemused, 'You'd think they'd try to be a bit tidier, wouldn't you? I mean some of that stuff is really expensive and it's just shoved in all over the place.'

'And that is why you will never become like the people who run that shop', Irinel sounded pleased.

'What do you mean?' Anastase peered at her in confusion.

'Some shops are messy because they are small and there is only so much room, other shops are messy because the people who run them are lazy, and some shops', she took a deep breath, 'are like that because the people who run them don't care about what they're selling, simple that it's sold. Those are greedy people and hopefully, neither you nor your brothers will ever be like that, not for money anyway, the hunger for knowledge, in and of itself, is never a bad thing in my opinion but greed for money or power…that can be terrible.'

Her face darkened as memories of Voldemort's War filled her mind, that had been a war of greed and power, and it had torn Britain apart for the very same reason her own parents had fled their homeland.

Anastase shuddered, 'How do we keep coming across ominous warnings today? First Mr Ollivander and now you! Let's talk about something nicer, like how happy Liniște and Kronid will be with the Lunascope and those Ancient Runes books.'

'Yes, micuț, let's.'

They made their way up the Alley towards the Leaky Cauldron, chattering about their purchases as they went.

'I'm really looking forward to reading the books I got', Anastase enthused, 'They all look so interesting! Though one thing that I did wonder about, was how do Muggle-borns buy all the things they need? I mean, Muggles can't get owl post can they, and the Leaky Cauldron is invisible to them isn't it?'

'Hmm', Irinel closed her eyes in brief thought, 'I'm not totally sure of all the details but I think that a Hogwarts professor gets sent out to tell the parents what their child is and about the Wizarding World. I imagine that they also tell them about Diagon Alley and give them some way of entering. Tom, the barman, must open the gateway and I know that Gringotts offers exchanges of Muggle money so that's it, I suppose', she shrugged, the exact details of how Muggles dealt with Wizards had never really interested her. It was, she guessed unsurprising that the ever curious Anastase would bring it up.

Once they had reached the entrance courtyard Irinel turned to face Anastase.

'Now we only have one more thing to do before we go home. As I said yesterday, we're going to visit your sister.'

'It's been years Mamă', Anastase whispered, 'I can barely remember her', he lied.

'I know', Irinel said softly, tears welled in her eyes, 'It's been far too long.'

'Do you think she remembers me? I know that when she lived with us…sometimes she didn't know who I was.'

Anastase really hoped _she_ didn't remember him or if _she_ did then not as the little boy who _she_ had so enjoyed terrorising.

'I don't know Anastase. Maybe, maybe not. The Healers -' Irinel broke off suddenly, her breath catching in her throat, 'I never meant for any of this to happen! We were so happy and then…it all went wrong. Luminița, Radoslav, even Camil. And now-! Never mind, never mind. Anastase ignore me, I'm just being stupid.'

She breathed hard, forcibly calming herself. Composed again, she stiffly wiped her eyes.

Anastase stared at her, all the theories and ideas he and the twins had come up with spinning around his head. What had happened? It was easy enough to work out Luminița and Radoslav but what about Uncle Camil? And now? It must have something to do with the letter, and maybe something to do with the visit. He watched as Irinel strode into the pub back straight before hurrying after her. He would find out what was going on. He would!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Anastase followed Irinel into the main bar of the Leaky Cauldron. It was a dark shabby place that smelled strongly of smoke. Despite it only being mid-afternoon the room was packed full of chattering patrons – a handful of grubby looking warlocks, a pair of old women nursing glasses of sherry, a group of people wearing hooded cloaks, and several others.

As they walked in the wrinkled old barman looked up at them, 'Madam Atarescu, it's been a long time since I last saw you in here.'

'Indeed, it has Tom. I'm afraid I haven't had much reason to go out the past few years, but now Anastase, my eldest, is Hogwarts age', Irinel explained. She looked at Anastase, 'Anastase this is the barman I mentioned outside, Tom, he's run the Leaky Cauldron for as long as I can remember.'

Anastase nodded in acknowledgement.

'So, you needed to get all his stuff I suppose?', the barman said before turning to Anastase, 'Good to meet you, young man. Looking forwards to Hogwarts, are you? Know what House you want to be in?'

'It's nice to meet you too', Anastase said, then tilted his head to one side considering, 'I am looking forward to Hogwarts but I'm going to miss the twins, and Mamă a lot, of course. I think I'll be a Ravenclaw, I like reading loads, it's my favourite thing to do!'

'That's an understatement, Tom. If I let him, or the twins, do as they wanted I'd never see them, and they'd never eat!' Irinel exclaimed, 'And while we're on the topic of his bottomless pit of questions, he wanted to know how Muggles got into Diagon Alley. I presume that you're the one who has to let them in aren't you?'

Tom laughed as he led them around the back of the bar to the fireplace, 'Indeed I am. I'm also the one that has to handle tampering with the spells that keep this place hidden from Muggle London every summer. What we have to do', he explained, 'Is tie all the acceptance letters into the enchantments so that the parents can see the place. You wouldn't believe the number of kids I've had run in here all excited while the parents are still outside panicking because their son or daughter has just vanished from their point of view, because they didn't bring the letter. I keep telling Professor Dumbledore that he needs to tell the teachers that go out to Muggle-borns to make sure the parents know that because it's a right pain in the behind I can tell you!'

He then bent down to pick up a large pot and held to out to them.

'Here you go.'

'You go first Anastase, I'll follow', Irinel gestured him forward.

Anastase dug his fingers into the Floo Powder and pulled out a handful before turning to the fire.

Hopping over the grate he shouted, 'St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.'

He kept his eyes shut as he whirled through the Floo Network, spinning like a top. The rush to passing air loud in his ears as he hugged himself to avoid hitting other grates. After a few seconds, he felt the speed decrease and opened his eyes as the St Mungo's fireplace came closer. With a slight leap, he stepped out of the Floo and landed in the reception. Anastase had only just found his footing when he had to jump aside to allow Irinel to come out of the grate behind him.

He had never been to St Mungo's before and looked around the hospital lobby curiously. It was a large bustling place filled with people, some of whom looked quite normal as they sat on small wooden chairs reading old copies of Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet, on the other hand, there were some witches and wizards who looked like victims of a curse or two, sprouting tentacles from their faces or with six arms. Anastase couldn't help but stare as one man let out an ear-splitting roar before walking towards the lift.

There were a host of witches and wizards dressed in lime-green robes carrying clipboards upon which they made notes as they walked up and down the rows of seats asking patience's questions. Anastase noted the wand and bone emblem on the front of the robes and tapped Irinel on the arm to get her attention.

'Are they the Healers?' he asked softly.

'Yes, they are', Irinel replied, she sounded sad. 'They're the ones who have been looking after your sister all these years', she paused, 'It should have been me', her words were bitter with regret, 'She should have been able to stay with us but…things happened, things changed, and unfortunately, that didn't end up being an option. Anyway', she shook off her dark mood, 'We'd better get in line or we'll never see her!'

Irinel pulled him over to the queue that had formed in front of a desk marked Enquiries. It was manned by a harassed-looking wizard who seemed to be having some problems with the three people at the front. The middle one, a dark-skinned woman, looked like she was unconscious and had smoke pouring from her ears. The others supporting her looked angry and appeared to be arguing with the wizard.

Finally, his temper having reached breaking point, the man yelled, 'Look, her being off her head doesn't make you lot unable to read! Potion and Plant Poisoning – third floor! Next please!'

The trio moved on the with unhappy grumbling as the next person, a pale looking boy holding his father's hand, pushed past them.

As they were waiting Anastase looked at the posters behind the help desk: Potion or Poison: Always Keep Cauldrons Clean, Swish and Flick: Watch Your Aim With Common Household Spells, Antidotes Are Anti-Don'ts Unless Approved by a Qualified Healer. A large portrait of a witch with long silvery hair labelled:

Dilys Derwent

St Mungo's Healer 1722-1741

Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

1741-1768

Also hung on the wall.

As Irinel walked forwards, Anastase looked at the floor plan:

GROUND FLOOR: ARTIFACT ACCIDENTS

(CAULDRON EXPLOSION, WAND-BACKFIRING, BROOM CRASHES, ETC.)

FIRST FLOOR: CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES

(BITES, STINGS, BURNS, EMBEDDED SPIDERS, ETC.)

SECOND FLOOR: MAGICAL BUGS

(CONTAGIOUS MALADIES, E.G., DRAGON POX, VANISHING SICKNESS, SCROFUNGULUS)

THIRD FLOOR: POTION AND PLANT POISONING

(RASHES, REGURGITATION, UNCONTROLLABLE GIGGLING, ETC.)

FOURTH FLOOR: SPELL DAMAGE

(UNLIFTABLE JINXES, HEXES, AND INCORRECTLY APPLIED CHARMS, ETC.)

FIFTH FLOOR: VISITOR'S TEAROOM AND HOSPITAL SHOP

IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHERE TO GO, INCAPABLE OF NORMAL SPECK OR UNABLE TO REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE HERE, OUR WELCOMEWITCHES AND WIZARDS WILL BE PLEASED TO HELP.

Anastase stared at it wondering where Luminița was, there didn't seem to be a floor for the born mad, he thought grimly. As he watched he saw a man collapse, his limp body was immediately swarmed by Healers who hurried him off.

'Anastase, what are you doing? I nearly lost you!', Irinel grabbed him by the arm and tugged him towards the desk.

He blindly realised that while he'd been lost in his own head they'd nearly gotten to the front of the queue.

The elderly woman in front of them handed the man behind the desk a long note, 'I'm here for my check-up but they didn't say if I was going to Magical Bugs or Spell Damage you see', she blinked at him like an owl, 'I've been to both before.'

'Yes, I see, you're in Magical Bugs today – the second floor. You'll see Healer Yakira's door on the left, can't miss it!' he waved her off cheerfully.

Irinel smiled at the wizard as she stepped up to him, 'Hello, we're here to see Luminița Atarescu. I'm her mother Irinel and this is Anastase, her brother.'

The Welcomewizard ran a finger down a long list in front of him, 'Atarescu, Atarescu…aah yes, Luminița you said? The Janus Thickly Ward – Fourth Floor, as far along the corridor as you can go.'

'Thank you', she said, 'Come on Anastase, keep up and stop daydreaming.'

They walked through a set of double doors into a long narrow corridor lined with more paintings of famous Healers. It was lit up by great crystal bubbles fill with candles that floated along the ceiling. More Healers hurried through the various doors along the passageway. Strange gases seemed to waft from some of the doors as they opened and Anastase could hear loud cries and wailing.

'That's the Accident and Emergency Department you can hear', Irinel murmured, 'I remember coming here to give birth to you and Luminița during the War. The ward would be packed full and they'd have to spill out into other wards. Some of the injuries were truly horrific, it makes me so glad that we were able to stay out of it, I can't begin to imagine what it must have been like for some families having to receive the news that someone had been killed or seriously injured.'

Anastase came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the corridor, 'Did Tata go there? Before he died', he asked.

'No, no your father never came here. He was dead long before I found him lying in the garden', Irinel said flatly, her icy tone quickly ending the conversation.

They had to walk up what seemed like an endlessly long flight of stairs before they reached the Spell Damage floor and by the time they got there, Anastase was panting.

'Have we got much further?' he wheezed, bent double over the bannister, gasping for breath.

'No, we're here now. You need to get out more Anastase, you look as if you'd just ran from here to Cornwall, rather than walked up four flights of stairs!' Irinel exclaimed, 'This is what happens when all you do is read. You and the twins all need to go out into the garden more and get some exercise!'

Anastase glared at her but he could see her point and on reflection, the only reason he and twins weren't the size of houses was because half the time they forgot to eat at all! Well if Hogwarts had half as many stairs as St Mungo's then he'd have to change that.

Irinel walked to the end of the corridor and checked the ward, 'This is the one we want, Anastase, hurry up.'

Anastase trailed after her. The sign on the door proclaimed it to be the Janus Thickly Ward: Long-Term Residents. The Healer-in-Charge was apparently James Alton, while the Trainee Healer was Marcus Trigg.

He looked around and winced internally, for all the personal effects that surrounded the many beds in the room, it was still clearly a hospital ward, with small high set windows letting in only minimal light casting a dingy pallor over the scene.

As they entered a pleasant looking Matron walked up to them, 'Hello, there. I'm Matron Mrium Stare, come to visit, have you? It so nice for them to see people other than us!'

Anastase and Irinel blinked at the woman's enthusiastic personality which seemed somewhat out of place in the room full of people who had permeant mental damage.

'Uh, yes', Irinel said faintly, 'We're here to see my daughter Luminița.'

Still chatting, the Matron lead them to a bed at the far end of the ward.

'I'm afraid', she lowered her voice, 'That there hasn't been much improvement in the last eight years. We've tried as much as we can but sometimes there is nothing we can do. I'm very sorry.'

Irinel seemed unsurprised to hear this and simply stared expressionlessly at the bed as Matron Stare wandered off to continue her rounds.

Luminița lay on her back humming to herself. As Anastase watched she stretched out her hand and began moving it through the air as if she were batting at something. Her dark blue eyes gazed at thin air. She suddenly sat upright and laughed before sinking back onto the bed.

The sight of Luminița giggling merrily on her bed, totally oblivious to the real world made something inside Anastase snap.

'She's mad. As mad as she was when she left! We're lucky you didn't let the twins come they would have been traumatised!' the angry words burst out of Anastase in a torrent, 'A "bit better", "pleased to see us" – she doesn't even know we're here! Why did we come? You were perfectly happy to ignore her for eight years, so what's changed? Did you suddenly find your compassion for the daughter you basically abandoned when she was six?! Or did something happen? What was in that letter from Unchiule Camil that scared you so much and don't try to deny it. I am not blind. I saw the look on your face. You were terrified!'

When Anastase fell silent he realised that everyone in the ward bar Irinel and Luminița were staring at him. Even the other patients had fallen silent. A grey-faced man who had been whimpering and shaking was now wide-eyed with fright, a fur-covered woman let out a high-pitched yip before diving under the covers of her bed. The Matron glared at him furiously. Luminița giggled and Irinel stared at the floor.

Anastase buried his head in his hands out of sheer embarrassment, face flaming red, before fleeing from the ward in tears. Behind him, Irinel slumped onto Luminița bed only seconds before breaking down herself. The poor Matron hurried over to comfort her.

Irinel screamed into her hands as the Matron rubbed her shoulders. Anastase was too intelligent, evidently, he's seen right through her mask to the fear beneath yesterday when he'd come to get his letter, she had thought she'd managed to fool him but obviously not. Straighten up she waved Matron Stare back to her rounds and ran her hands through Luminița's hair. This was what had happened the last time she'd got caught up in Camil's madcap schemes, an insane daughter who could never leave St Mungo's because she was a danger to others, and herself, and a dead husband who had perished trying to save his eldest child from a life of madness. Luminița stirred restlessly as if sensing her distress, rapidly opening and closing her eyes, hands twitching.

'Shh, shh', Irinel murmured, 'It's alright Luminița. I'll look after you, I'll make sure he doesn't hurt you again.'

Now if only she could show her sons why she needed to keep them safe and hidden from the world, but she couldn't. They were too stubborn, too fierce to lay down and take it silently. Too much like her if she really admitted it, although their lack of empathy and analytical minds scared her with how much they resembled Camil at times. She shuddered and wiped her eyes, now she had to focus.

Anastase didn't stop running until he was well up the flight of stairs to the next floor. He came to a halt gasping, muffled sobs spilling out.

He rested his head against the wall, shaking. It wasn't like him to have a breakdown, but he'd just been so angry! Why did his mother have to do this? Life had been perfectly fine without Luminița around. Sure, basically abandoning your six-year-old daughter for being mad wasn't good, but that was Irinel's problem, not his. She was the parent, not him. He felt ashamed at himself for disbelieving Kronid and Liniște too, after all, he had been the one to start the whole theory, and now it looked like he'd been correct, Mamă was trying to hide something if her refusal to look him in the eye had meant anything!

'Uh, are you alright?' the strange voice came from somewhere above him and nearly made Anastase fall down the stairs as he lept in fright.

A hand grabbed his shoulder as he slipped, catching him just in time to stopping tumbling head over heels down the steps.

'Sorry! I didn't mean to make you jump, I mean you look as if you've had enough of a fright before I scared you', the speaker was a young boy. Despite only being a year or so older than Anastase he already had silver hair.

Anastase blinked at him in surprise, 'You have grey hair', he blurted out. Oops, he mentally clapped a hand over his mouth and flushed. What was wrong with him today?

The boy smiled kindly, 'It okay', he said, 'I'm used to people being surprised. It's just something that runs in Mum's family. She went grey really young too. Anyway, I was wondering if you were alright, didn't mean to make you almost break your neck. Did…did you just get some bad news? Do you have family here?' his voice went from babbling and apologetic to soft and hushed.

Anastase shook his head, 'No, nothing like that. I…my sister's here, but she's been here since I was four. She has…stuff, something, wrong with her mind, I'm not sure what. She's in the long-term ward on the Spell Damage floor. But I wasn't crying about that. It…something's wrong with my family, all of it, not just Luminița, and I was so angry, and I started shouting at Mamă. Well, then I just ran out. I feel like a total idiot…and a brat', he added, 'I want to know what's going on, because if Unchiule Camil is doing something dangerous or illegal and Mamă gets caught up in it, then it affects all of us. Not just the adults.'

Dead silence met his tirade. The silver-haired boy stared at him with wide grey eyes.

'Well, I can't say that I understood half of that or that it's any of my business, but if you think something's wrong with your family or that they might be in trouble or involved with something against the law shouldn't you tell someone? Then they can tell you if you're right to be worried or just overreacting and imagining things', he suggested.

Anastase looked at him solemnly, 'That's one of the things that isn't right though', he said, 'We don't have any contact with anyone that but family. There is no one to tell. Doesn't that seem wrong to you? My brothers and I only realised yesterday, I mean, we'd never thought about it before. Why would we? It was normal, but when you see it and think…you know how strange it is', Anastase trailed off in thought.

The two boys stared at each other for a while. Standing in silence, each wrapped up in their own ponderings.

The older boy suddenly jerked upright, 'Oh no! It's probably time for me to go – I'm here with my cousin', he explained, 'He needs to come here for check-ups.'

He started to run down the stairs, he turned, 'I'm Locryn by the way. Nice seeing you mystery boy.'

Anastase watched him go, before walking down the steps himself. He was far slower than Locryn had been, reluctant as he was to head back to the ward, and his mother.

As he went back, he thought about what he would do, would he slink back in head down and ashamed…or would he go straight back to demanding Mamă tell him what was going on? He was more than slightly tempted to go with the latter, after all as he'd said to Locryn, he and the twins, and Decebal and Simu for that matter, all had the right to know if the family was involved in something illicit – if only so they knew not to pry any further! The talk with the other boy also made him realise just how alone they all were as well. It had been lovely talking with someone who he hadn't known since he was a baby, but it had again highlighted just how isolated he was. The first thing that had come to his and the twin's minds had been to investigate themselves, the first thing to come to Locryn's had been to tell another, unrelated, adult. It was Anastase reflected, horribly unfair that there was nobody that he and his brothers could turn to aside from their cousins, who were the same ages as themselves. This thought made Anastase cringe even further as he recalled his angry words to Liniște yet again, he had been willfully blind and stupid, not wanting to admit that Mamă could do anything wrong. Well, he was disillusioned now, speaking to somebody normal had only highlighted just how abnormal his own upbringing had been.

Having finally reached the door to the Janus Thickly Ward, he lifted his head, set his shoulders, and firmly brought his emotions under control. Grasping the handle, he shoved the door open. Irinel still sat on Luminița's bed tear stains visible on her cheeks. The Matron, still bustling around the ward, gave him a look that might have been the expression version of the Killing Curse. Anastase glared back, how dare she judge him! She had no idea what was going, and on the subject of strange, why hadn't St Mungo's ever thought it odd that Luminița never had any visitors? Obviously, they knew she had living family so why hadn't anyone noticed?

He marched up to Irinel and looked at her, 'If you want an apology, you're not getting one. I stand by what I said before: I, and the twins and our cousins, we all deserve to know if somethings going on. I get it if you don't want to say it here, in public, but we have a right. If something is happening, you have to tell us. I know we're children but if something happens to you, it affects us too, more than you in some ways.' He made his tone firm as he strengthened his resolve.

Irinel shook her head, 'Why won't you believe me? I told you nothing has happened! Unchiule Camil's letter was nothing.'

'You're still lying to me', he seethed, 'I saw your face! You were scared. And what about Luminița? None of us ever visited her for seven years…and now you want to. If something hasn't happened, then why? Why the interest? I would have been perfectly happy to never see her again as long as I lived. The twins never even knew her, they didn't know she existed until last year, and she certainly never knew them when she left nor, if her state at the moment is normal, does she know now!', Anastase was breathing as heavily as if he'd run up another flight of stairs, 'And speaking of the twins not knowing about their sister until they were eight, why the secrecy? You hide so much. I don't even know how Tata died! You haven't told anyone, not even Unchiule Mircea and Mătușa Lăcrămioara, I asked them once, years ago', he added, seeing the question on Irinel's face.

Irinel's mouth twisted unpleasantly, 'I have a right to privacy. I loved your father, I still do! Sometimes-', she cut herself off with a harsh, ragged cry.

'What Mamă? You wish he still lived and one of us did not? Do not think that is a surprise! The twins and I have always known that you hated our looks, mirrors of you that we are. We have your personality too, don't we?', Anastase could hear the cruel mocking in his own voice, somehow he couldn't regret it. 'We are beautiful, intelligent but oh, so cold. Not like your darling Radoslav!', he laughed, it was ugly sound.

A high pitched, tinkling giggle interrupted his taunt. Anastase and Irinel both stared as Luminița rose from her bed and stepped towards them. Her long, flame red hair hung down her back, swaying as she moved. Her ocean coloured eyes were fixed on Anastase.

'Hello, little brother', her voice was harsh from disuse, 'I remember you. You hated me. You always did. Even when I tried to play with you.' She pouted like a young child.

'Your eyes, they are still the same, so dark, so cold, so empty. It makes me wonder what's looking back at me from them. Do you feel anything?' there was a strange wonder in her voice now, 'Do you feel anything for all the little people that love you so much? Or do you simply not care?'

Anastase recoiled from her, 'I hated you?! No, sister. I remember you! You hurt me, or you tried anyway! Until I learned how to avoid you, and that Mamă and Tata would stop you if I told them!' he waved a hand at her, 'If this is what you remember from living with us, then no wonder you're in here. You are mad. I think the better question would be if you felt anything. My eyes may be "dark and cold", but I know my own mind, can you say the same?'

'Stop this both of you', Irinel shouted, 'This is not a competition! Luminița can you hear me? I'm your Mamă, I love you. I always have-'

'She tells the truth now sister', Anastase felt wild with turbulent emotion, 'You were her perfect lovely daughter-'

'If you think I loved you or your brothers any less then you are wrong! Everything I've done, everything I've ever hidden was to protect you! And what happened to Luminița is why! Are you happy now, Anastase? Now that you know. Luminița may be mad but she got one thing right, you are cruel. You don't have my personality, you have Camil's, you all do. Ever hungry for more, more knowledge, more power, more everything', she looked disgusted, 'You are just like him.'

'Forget him, Mamă. He has always been jealous of me-'

'You liar!' Anastase was furious, 'How can you listen to this? Mamă, you were the one who sent Luminița away not me! I was four! This is not my fault. And what happened to "the hunger for knowledge, in and of itself, is never a bad thing", he quoted, then laughed, 'I can't even believe I'm having this conversation. It's insane! What did Camil do to Luminița? And what does it have to do with the letter he sent you?'

'Just STOP! Both of you!', Irinel rubbed her face wearily, 'Luminița, Anastase is right. He had nothing to do with you being sent here. Anastase what happened with Camil is in the past. His letter…it did unnerve me but don't – I mean it – don't dig for more information, alright?'

'Okay, Mamă-', Anastase started to reply when he was abruptly cut off.

'So, this is how it's going to be then', Luminița voice was a lot less dreamy than it had been moments previously, 'Always him isn't it? Well, here's your answer brother. Do I feel anything? Why yes, yes, I do, for people who care for me. Which is none of you! In the seven years, I've rotted here, the only person who visited me was Camil! He is wonderful, lovely, he loves me!', her words became a shrill wail.

Luminița tossed her head and shrieked with laughter, 'He showed me the truth of all things. Our family's heritage! And one day, I'll make you pay, both of you!'

She spun back and fell onto the bed limply. Irinel lunged forward in shock. Anastase's lips curled as he looked at her.

How could anyone be so crazy? Anastase shook his head as he watched Irinel's and the disapproving Matron fuss over Luminița. Her eyes had rolled back into her head leaving the whites staring ghoulishly at the ceiling. Jealous of her? He'd been scared of her not hateful! As for his eyes being cold and dark, well it had hardly his fault he had dark brown eyes rather than Radoslav's blue! And how could a four-year-old be cruel? Totally crazy, but if Camil had been a regular visitor to the ward that definitely explained why none of the stuff had ever questioned her never being seen, because she had been, by the very person what had been responsible for putting her here, if his reading into Irinel's implication had been correct. He was broken out of his racing thoughts when Irinel called him.

'Anastase, we're leaving', her voice was sharp, her face tense as she swept out of the ward.

Anastase hurried after her. Alright, he could admit that he could be a bit cruel now, but at four? Somehow, he didn't think that was quite as true. It had been a good thing that Irinel hadn't let the twins come with them, now that he looked back on the argument, his hot-headed anger was one thing but the twins, who definitely were cold and logical, would have left not just Irinel but also Luminița, the Matron and most of the patients in sobbing heaps.

Irinel's stopped in the hospital lobby and turned to him, 'I have never been so embarrassed by you Anastase, what that poor woman must have thought, you screaming at Luminița! I won't say that she didn't give as good as she got but that's no excuse! Luminița is here for a reason and half the things she says don't mean anything.'

'I know Mamă, and I am sorry for getting angry but what I said is true. If you'd said before that Camil was dangerous and that you wanted to keep us safe, then you should have said so! Then none of this would have happened! All I wanted to know was the truth', Anastase bowed his head, 'And now Kronid and Liniște are running around thinking that you want to keep us isolated because you're up to something illegal. We spent all yesterday evening talking about it. They were going to talk to Decebal and Simu to see if they also thought that never seeing anyone, but family was strange.'

Irinel sighed, 'I suppose from your point of view it was strange, but even now there are many things you do not know of. Stop investigating, all of you', she groaned, 'This is one of the many problems that come with having children that are cleverer than you! You all see more than I realise and then this happens.'

'I'm sorry Mamă', Anastase was sorry, sorry that he had to lie to her about finding out the truth, and sorry that she didn't trust him enough to tell him why she has really done what she had.

Irinel held out her hand, Anastase took hold of it. The sucking, crack of Apparition surrounded him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Liniște smiled as Anastase and Irinel disappeared with a sharp crack. He turned to look at Kronid who smirked in response. Step 1: get Mămică out of the way, done. Now, onto Step 2: find Decebal and Simu and get them on their own.

'Okay boys hold on tight remember', Lăcrămioara's accent was far more British than Irinel's Liniște noted, she also used the English boys rather than baieți. Obviously, the Grecueanu's had tried to integrate themselves into British society and culture more than the Atarescu's. Maybe Decebal and Simu hadn't noticed anything unusual at all. No, that wasn't right of cause they hadn't noticed anything yet or Decebal would have gone to a Hogwarts professor, what they wanted to see was if they didn't notice anything strange after they'd thought about it for a while. Having mentally assured himself that they weren't on a fool's errand, Liniște tightened his grip on Mircea's hand and braced himself for the Side-Along.

The squeezing sensation almost made him vomit and upon hitting solid ground once more he promptly doubled over moaning and hugging his stomach. Beside him, Kronid was also gagging, though he too seemed to have avoided actually throwing up.

A hand patted Liniște on the back gently, 'You'll be okay. The first time is always a shock. My first I really did throw up, right over a woman doing her shopping too! It was even worse when I went to Hogwarts a month later and realised that she was Professor McGonagall, my Transfiguration teacher and Head of House!'

Liniște looked up at his cousin, 'That does sound embarrassing. So, I presume that McGonagall is Head of Gryffindor then, seeing as that's your House.'

Decebal blinked, 'Uh, yeah she is. Umm, do you normally go from almost puking your guts out to sounding like you just swallowed a dictionary?'

'That's nothing', Kronid said briskly, 'He didn't so much as bat an eyelash at our brother trying to poison us. Anyway, why don't we go to your room and then you can answer all our questions. We have many of them', he glanced at Mircea and Lăcrămioara, who were watching the cousins with bemused expressions, 'Anastase has just gotten his Hogwarts letter, that is why Mamă has taken him to Diagon Ally.'

Decebal stared at Kronid in shock at his matter of fact statement that Anastase had almost poisoned them before shooting his parents a questioning look.

'Go right up boys, just don't forget to include Simu in your group, he's been looking forward to seeing you two', Mircea requested. Lăcrămioara waved them away with a smile. Evidently, neither of them had heard Kronid's words.

Once they were alone Kronid and Liniște looked at each other again. Liniște went over to the door and slid the latch across while Kronid turned to the now confused Simu and Decebal and directed them onto Decebal's bed.

'What are you doing? Why have you locked the door?', Simu sounded worried.

Kronid sprawled out on the bed and blinked lazily at them, 'Patience cousins, we'll explain all', he promised them.

Liniște sat down next to his twin and pursed his lips thoughtfully before speaking, 'So, yesterday, after Anastase got his letter, we all noticed something a bit strange, shall we say.'

'Yes, strange fits it well', Kronid agreed, sitting up, 'What we noticed', he continued, 'Was that none of us ever left the house, we never saw anyone we weren't related to, we don't even know anyone to go to if something happened to Mamă – except for people we're related to.'

Liniște added to the list, 'We don't know our neighbours and we have plenty, we don't have any friends apart from you two and each other, and we just asked ourselves, why?'

'Needless to say, we couldn't answer that, but we did think it was odd', Kronid met Decebal's eyes, 'Anastase also said that Mamă got a letter from Unchiule Camil that seemed to scare her, and she wants to go and see Luminița despite having never done so for seven years.'

'So, what did you tell us for?', Decebal demanded, 'Did you want to scare us too? Well, in that case, congratulate yourselves! You've scared me! Now if that was all you wanted to do, get out! I won't say anything to Mum and Dad-'

'Oh, don't be so stupid!' Liniște snapped, why did people have to be so emotional? 'If we wanted to scare you we wouldn't be so obvious you fool! Now, are you angry because you think we're lying or because you think we're telling the truth? Have we made you see things you ignored before? Because I will tell you this, we had never thought about it before either and you should be scared! Being isolated, being kept alone, away from others, it's not normal! How many people did you know before Hogwarts? How many do you know now?'

'I bet it was nobody aside from us, brother. I don't suppose that's changed either, despite the fact he's been at Hogwarts for two years. After all, he's never had any friends over, never even mentioned any in letters. We never thought that was strange, did we?', Kronid mused.

'He's right', Simu whispered, 'Kronid, he's right. We've never thought about it either, but everything they're saying is true. I probably noticed first because when you're at Hogwarts…I'm alone. I don't see anyone except Mum and Dad, ever.'

Decebal stared, 'Why didn't you tell me? I could have told you that was wrong – oh Merlin! How come I never saw it. I…', he trailed off.

Liniște nodded, 'You never saw it because you had no one you tell you otherwise. For you, life at home was normal, just like it was for us. Though, how come you never made any friends? I mean no one could stop you at Hogwarts.'

'Except myself', Decebal stated, his voice was flat, eyes distant in thought, 'I didn't want to make friends. I didn't know how to! Everyone else was chatting to each other about homework, classes, things they got up to at weekends and I just didn't. I don't know why. But I kept myself alone for some reason. And so, I never realised that anything was wrong.'

'So, it isn't just us then', Kronid said, 'Now, we need to find out why. Why are they keeping us alone? What's the reason? Decebal you were six when Luminița was sent to St Mungo's, can you remember why?'

'What, remember? Of course not! I was six, that was years ago!', Decebal spluttered, 'And what does that have to do with any of this?'

Liniște tutted, 'Anastase remembers her and he was only four. Your memory must be really bad, especially as I already said that Mamă randomly decided to go and see Luminița after seven years. Between that and the mysterious letter, we think that whatever is making our parents isolate us, is part of something bigger. Something that might be to do with Luminița.'

'Something that's just been changed too', Kronid added, 'Us working out that something was wrong, was a result of the Hogwarts letter but Mamă going to see Luminița was caused by the letter from Unchiule Camil. Whatever was in there must have been important.'

'When did your Mum get that letter from Uncle Camil exactly?' Simu asked suddenly.

'Yesterday, why?'

'Because our Mum also got a letter yesterday', Simu explained, 'She went really pale, but she wouldn't tell any of us what was in it or who it was from, not even Dad. She burnt it with a spell after she read it.'

'It might have been the same as your Mum's', Decebal gasped, 'So it must be to do with your family, the Atarescu's I mean, not Dad's family, otherwise he would have gotten a letter too.'

'That doesn't make any sense though', Kronid frowned, 'Because we're related anyway. The Atarescu's and Grecueanu's are all descended from the same family: the Astarákos. Even without Mătușa Lăcrămioara marrying Unchiule Mircea they were cousins and our father Radoslav was Mamă's cousin from another branch of the family.'

'And that's odd too', Liniște said, 'I mean some Pureblood families marry cousins to keep the blood pure, but we've never been blood purists. So why did we keep marriage in the family?'

'To keep a secret, perhaps' Kronid suggested, 'Possibly one that the Grecueanu's didn't fully agree with. After all the families are related but the Atarescu's have married cousin to cousin for centuries but Mătușa Lăcrămioara was the first to marry a Grecueanu for decades. Could they have fallen out over something? Something that Mircea doesn't agree with to this day?'

'This is really terrifying actually', Decebal said, 'I'd never have thought of any of this, but things just keep piling up. What else are we going to find out? Are there dead bodies buried in the garden?'

Liniște went wide-eyed, 'I hope not! I mean this is all very disturbing but…murder? Surely someone would have noticed that. I mean keeping us isolated is one thing, but no one could have known except us, and marrying between cousins isn't illegal but killing someone…other people would have to know. So, no, I don't think there any bodies in the garden. And didn't you just hear us say that we didn't think your Tata has anything to do with this?'

'Well that's good, about the bodies and Dad', Simu tried to smile, 'But what about Luminița, someone would have noticed murder, but what about driving someone mad?'

The twins froze, they hadn't thought about that. Anastase was the only one of the brothers who remembered Luminița and the only thing he'd ever said about her was that she was mad. Could she have been sane once? Could she have been driven mad? It seemed too horrible to contemplate but Liniște wouldn't have been shocked if it were true.

'If that did happen then she must have been four or younger when they did it', Kronid murmured, his face scrunched up with concentration.

'Why four?', Decebal asked.

'Because Anastase can remember her from when he was three and she was already mad then', Liniște explained, 'Luminița's two years older than him.'

'But why? What could they have done? What did they think you happen instead? I mean even if our parents are up to something, surely they wouldn't mean to drive a toddler insane?!', Simu sounded appalled.

'We don't know that though', Liniște pointed out, 'They are our parents -our mothers if Mircea is innocent- but technically some of the things they've done to us, all of them that is, Mircea included, could be classed as emotional abuse, especially as it's already left Decebal at least with an inability to form relationships with his peers, and if they did drive Luminița insane, even if it was unintentional, that's definitely illegal. If we told anyone about any of this, the Ministry could arrest them at the very least, probably imprison them if our theories are correct.'

'So, what do we do?', Decebal asked, 'Do we tell someone? I don't think we could at the moment but once Anastase and I are at Hogwarts we can tell a professor.'

Kronid shook his head, 'If we were anyone else I would say of cause tell somebody, but…I think something has happened, something big, something that could be important outside of what's happened to us. If we go to the Ministry, there is the possibility that our parents get caught and imprisoned and that's fine-'

'Fine!', Decebal burst out, 'I don't know what it's like in your head Kronid and frankly, I don't want to! In what world is our parents, Dad or no Dad, getting locked up for abusing us and driving your sister crazy fine?'

Kronid glared, 'You know what I mean, it's all very well them getting dealt with but you're forgetting Camil.'

'Dealt with!', Decebal muttered angrily.

'What do you mean Camil?', Darren inquired ignoring his brother.

'He was the one who sent the letter that led to the whole somethings wrong, weird things are happening, maybe our family is up to something illegal investigation wasn't he?' Liniște rolled his eyes, 'That means that he is probably behind anything that happened or is happening, so if anyone needs to be caught by the Ministry it's him. Not our parents and a big problem is that even if we don't think your Tata has much, or any, involvement in all this...'

'He still looks very guilty from an outsiders point of view', Kronid finished, 'The chances of the MOM taking our word for it is so slim it's non-existent, after all, we are children, and the facts that we're basing his innocence on are our family history, things that we know very well but for the British Ministry it would involve lots of time-consuming research and maybe even background checks with the Romanian Ministry.'

'But then what are we going to do?', Decebal snapped, 'Because I'm not sure about you two but I'm just a Hogwarts student, not a private investigator or an Auror. If you want to start interfering that's up to you but…this isn't like a game, it will be dangerous if what you think is true. I'm no coward, I was put in Gryffindor for a reason, but this is on a whole new level. We could seriously die.'

'I… we all know that Decebal, but does it matter what we want?', Simu turned to him, 'What we do isn't going to change the fact that our parents may be involved in something illegal. We're still going to get caught up in it, it's inevitable, we live in the same house, we will see something. At least this way we can talk to each other and if something happens to one of us, the rest will know it's time to end it and tell someone.'

Decebal sighed, 'And if we go to someone now it still leaves Camil free to do whatever he wants and as he would be our only adult relative who wasn't implicated in some way, he'd become all of our's guardian, which could put us in even more danger.'

'Exactly', Liniște said, 'So are we all in agreement?'

'Obviously brother.'

'Yes, I'm in we have no choice.'

'It's not in my hands, whether we do this or not we're still probably going to die, at least this way I'll go fighting.'

Liniște ran his gaze over the group, two rather above average nine-year-olds, a strong-willed ten-year-old, and a thirteen-year-old with trust and impulse issues. Not the most conventional set of people for trying to prevent an "evil plot" but then unlike standard storybook heroes, they were in this for themselves, not to save anyone else from a maybe non-existent "dastardly plan".

Decebal shook his head and then let out a slightly hysterical laugh, 'Not meaning to bring up bad memories, but on the topic of mad family members, I could have sworn that Kronid said that Anastase tried to poison you when we were downstairs.'

'Oh, he did', Kronid expanded, 'But it was a mistake, he likes doing potions experiments and feed us a modified sleeping potion. Mamă was furious and we were sick for days after. As you can see we fully recovered.'

Simu coughed interrupting the conversation, licking his lips nervously as he looked at the clock hanging on Decebal's wall, 'We've been up here for almost two hours. Mum'll be calling us down for lunch soon.'

Decebal shot upwards, 'What? I swear we only started talking a few minutes ago!'

'Time flies when you're…planning how not to die', Kronid giggled. He turned serious, 'Remember, we can't let them know that anything has changed. Just act normal.'

'Normal. Okay. That's going to be so easy.', Decebal's voice positively dripped with sarcasm, 'This is where I must point out that I'm not terribly good at hiding my emotions, in fact, I'm really more plain terrible.'

'I think we got that, when you started shouting at us', Liniște quipped, 'Teasing aside, let us do the talking. If you can't lie convincingly just go very quiet, that will make them worry that something is wrong with you and ask if you feel sick, not make them suspicious that you think they might be total maniacs who lock up their children and drive nieces insane, the way really bad acting will.'

'Okay, well let's just wait until Mum does call because I'm all for delaying the lying as long as I can', Simu said. He looked very nervous now unlike Decebal who, now that they'd decided what to do, was nodding confidently.

Decebal was obviously one of those brave people who only were brave once something was happening, while they were talking and planning he'd been as jumpy as a rabbit, now that they were about to start the actual hiding thing part, he was totally calm and focused.

Liniște cocked his head to one side as he considered what he and Kronid were like, they tended to simply be as utterly detached as much as they could. For as long as either of them could remember emotion had been something distant that could, and would, be pushed aside easily. No bravery for them but no panic either, after all, it wasn't as if either of those would help you.

A knock sounded on the door before Lăcrămioara attempted to open it. Finding it shut she shouted through to them, 'It's lunchtime boys. Come down to have something to eat.'

Simu leapt to his feet and lifted the latch letting her in.

She looked around the room, 'Honestly, teenagers are like mushrooms! Couldn't you have opened the curtails, Decebal?' She bustled about the room, opening curtains and windows and straightened the duvet cover.

A wide-eyed Simu fairly shot out of the room, with Liniște frowning after him. If he was going to be that obvious they might as well tell the adults outright that they thought they were up to something. Decebal and the twins followed more sedately as Lăcrămioara tidied the bedroom.

Kronid grabbed hold of Liniște's arm and pulled him aside, 'We're going to have to do something about Simu, at first I thought it would Decebal we would have problems with, but he seems to be fine.'

'Simu, on the other hand, is going to give up the game', Liniște agreed, 'We can't do anything too drastic though or Decebal will tell on us.'

Kronid shrugged, 'Anastase can brew a Calming Draft in less than a day. All Decebal has to do is keep him quite until it arrives, and make sure Mătușa and Unchiule don't get hold of it.'

'Hmm', Liniște nodded, 'It might be a bit hard to explain why we're drugging one of our cousins, especially since Anastase's not exactly known for making potions that are very safe for people to drink, is he?'

'I, personally, was stunned that Mamă even let him back in the lab after he fed us that modified Draft of Living Death, I mean, we were lucky we didn't die!' Kronid exclaimed, 'Though I don't suppose we're much better, are we?'

'No, brother dearest, experimenting on the neighbour's cat is totally safe isn't it?', Liniște snarked back. He rolled his eyes, 'Now get moving idiot, or you'll give us away!'

Decebal stared at them suspiciously as they re-joined the cousins, before turning back to his father smiling happily, 'Yes, it would be nice to see more of them over the summer Dad. So, can we really go and stay with Aunt Irinel for a couple of weeks?'

What's this about staying with Mamă?', Liniște asked as he sat down.

'Oh, just something Lăcrămioara and I were thinking about. The lot of you have barely seen hide nor hair of each other this year so we thought that you might like Decebal and Simu coming over to stay with you for a bit', Mircea explained, 'If Irinel is alright with it of course.'

'We'd love it', Kronid said blandly, 'But Mamă can be a bit…strange these days, so she might say no.'

'Never mind that!', Mircea laughed, 'I'm sure we can convince her! And even if we can't you'll still end up seeing each other.'

'How?', Simu's question was so softly spoken that Liniște's ears strained to pick it up.

'You're being very quiet Simu, are you alright?', Mircea sounded concerned.

'I'm fine', Simu brushed him off, 'How are we going to see more of each other?'

Mircea looked unconvinced but carried on, 'Your mother wants to talk to Irinel about something their brother sent her. Some news or other that upset her a bit.'

'Was that the letter she burned?', Decebal asked.

His eyes had widened to sharp amber pools, Liniște noticed, as he leaned forward.

'Yes, it was and before you ask I don't know what it said. Give your Mum some privacy', Mircea tutted.

'Yes, please do give me privacy or Merlin knows nothing would ever be secret from you', Lăcrămioara commented as she walked down the stairs. 'What were you talking about?'

'I was telling them about our plan to have them stay over at your sister's for a while, and somehow', Mircea paused and mocked glared at Simu, 'They managed to winkle that you were concerned about that letter you got and that you wanted to talk to Irinel, out of me! I'm sorry dear.'

'Oh, Mircea', Lăcrămioara smiled fondly, 'You always were hopeless at keeping a secret, but I don't suppose it matters much, you', she looked at the twins, 'And your brother are the most curious and clever children I've ever come across. You'd have worked it out straight away and then gone and told these two.'

Kronid bared his teeth in a sharp grin, 'Probably.'

'And then gone on to pester you mercilessly about it', Decebal broke in, 'It's like being interrogated Mum, you have no idea!'

'Don't be so dramatic', Liniște snorted, 'We're not that bad, we merely questioned you slightly.'

Conversation halted as Mircea and Lăcrămioara stared making sandwiches.

'Boys lay out the table please.'

'Could you get some knives out, Kronid?'

'Oi, no stealing Decebal, wait until we've all sat down.'

'Greedy pig!'

'Oh, shut up Simu!'

Liniște and Kronid were somewhat bemused by the hustle and bustle that filled the Grecueanu's kitchen. At home Mamă kept them all firmly out of the kitchen except when they were eating, and, in their minds, it was very much her domain. It was Liniște reflected very strange to be in a kitchen that was obviously a family room, for that matter it was strange that everyone in the family actually sat in rooms together quite aside from meals. In the Atarescu household, the members avoided each other most of the time with the singular exception of the twins who might as well have been connected to each other.

As they finally sat down to eat the twins realised that, again unlike at home, conversation continued right through meals.

'So, what were you lot up to, huddled away in Decebal's room?', Mircea asked, 'Talk about anything interesting? Girls, Decebal?'

'What? No!', Decebal sounded alarmed, 'Dad, you do realise that Kronid and Liniște are only nine? Very mature nine yes, but still nine. I don't think they have any interest in girls yet.'

'Have they even met any girls?', Simu asked sounding genuinely interested, 'Besides Mum and Aunt Irinel.'

'We have met girls, yes', Kronid said, 'Really spoken to them, no.'

Being kept isolated didn't exactly lend itself to a hectic social life, Liniște thought with a snicker. Shaking his head, he added his own commentary, 'Anastase probably isn't interested in girls either. The way he describes Luminița as being would put anyone of girls for life!'

'Luminița', Mircea suddenly sounded very serious, 'Is a special case. She couldn't help being the way she was. It's just unfortunate that Anastase was too young to understand at the time and once he did understand, she'd already been committed for five years.'

'He didn't understand?' Liniște cried indignantly, 'Mamă didn't even tell us that we had a sister until last year! Neither did Anastase for that matter.'

'That is Irinel's business, not mine', Mircea said defensively, 'Now, let's move back to my original question. Were you having fun together?'

'Yes, Dad. We were', Decebal replied, 'I was telling them about Hogwarts, you know? All the different classes, the houses, the professors – like Snape!'

'Who's Snape? You didn't mention any of them by name!' Kronid demanded.

'Professor Snape's the Head of Slytherin House and he loathes Gryffindor. I swear you could get into Gryffindor just by standing up to him, no Sorting required!' Decebal grinned, 'He's that scary.'

'What House do you think Anastase will go into?' Lăcrămioara asked, 'I, myself, was a Slytherin, though that was long before Severus Snape was Head of House. I remember him, he was a year below me, a very quiet boy, though of course, he fell in with a bad crowd. Most of them were arrested as Death Eaters after the war.'

Decebal sniggered, 'That might explain a few things about him, Mum. And really Severus? What a name! I mean, sure, Decebal and Simu aren't common but Severus? It's like his parents wanted him to be terrifying.'

He shook his head in disbelief before continuing, 'I thought that Anastase would be a total Ravenclaw and the twins too. All they do is read, they're crazy smart, and love learning. Basically, the exact description of a Ravenclaw. Professor Flitwick, the House Head, is also really nice, nothing like Snape.'

'Well, that's good isn't it?' Mircea smiled, 'At least you'll be able to talk to each other while you're there. He's been having trouble settling in and making friends', he confided to the twins.

'Yes, yes, alright Dad', Decebal grumbled, 'He can help me with my homework!' he suddenly exclaimed.

'Oh, no, you don't', Lăcrămioara whipped around to face him, 'You won't get your poor cousin to do all your work, besides you'd fail your exams and have to repeat the year.'

She laughed at Decebal's disgruntled expression, 'Wouldn't like that, would you?'

'Maybe not', Decebal said sheepishly, 'I didn't really think that though, but he can help me. He's two years younger but way smarter. He'll end up teaching the teachers if he learns anymore!'

'There's more to teaching than knowing, Decebal', Lăcrămioara pointed out, 'Anastase could know everything in the world but never be able to tell others how to use it.'

Liniște nodded, 'The professors also have experience that Anastase doesn't. After all he can perform every spell on the Hogwarts syllabus, in theory, we don't know about real life.'

'I see', Decebal nodded.

Liniște watched the Grecueanu's as they finished lunch. It was nice to chat about day to day things rather than sit in silence just waiting to leave, he thought. Kronid threaded his fingers though Liniște's own and squeezed them slightly. He felt it too, the utter difference between families.

Simu, having scarfed down the last crumbs, leapt up from the table and turned to his parents, 'Can we go now? I want to hear more about Hogwarts and what Decebal and Anastase are going to do!'

For someone who was scared stiff that Mircea or Lăcrămioara would notice that something was wrong, the ten-year-old did a truly brilliant job of acting as he bounded towards the door.

'So eager to get rid of the parents', Mircea said in mock sorrow, 'Go on then. I gather you're disappearing too?' He looked at Decebal and the twins.

'Yep', Decebal followed his brother out the door the twins at his heels.

Flopping back onto Decebal bed, Liniște turned to Simu, 'If you're really as scared as you said you were, then you would make a wonderful actor. I couldn't see so much as a hint of fear.'

Simu's eyebrows shot upwards, 'Really? I was terrified. I am not a good liar.'

'But you don't need to be', Kronid said, 'The truth makes the best cover story, you said you wanted to hear more about Hogwarts and what Decebal and Anastase will do. So, Decebal tell us about Hogwarts and what you and Anastase are going to do there.'

Decebal blinked and then started to talk.

It was late afternoon by the time they stopped chattering about the school and they were all beginning to flag. As it turned out they had perfect timing as no sooner had they fallen silent than a loud snap filled the air.

Kronid sat up, pulling Liniște with him, 'That was Apparition, Mamă and Anastase must be back from Diagon.'

'Hmm', Liniște hummed between his teeth, 'I wonder how their visit with Luminița went? Hope it was good.'

'So, do I-', Decebal began to reply when the door opened and Mircea walked in.

'Still talking I see. Anyway, Kronid, Liniște, Irinel's back and I think something happened while she and Anastase were out. She looks like she's about to cry and he looks as if he wants to pull out her brain in search of information!'

Liniște hissed out some unpleasant words in Romanian under his breath and Mircea looked at him sharply.

'I'm not nearly as fluent in Romanian as you are Liniște, but I can still recognise a swear word', he snapped, 'I understand that your upset but clean language please!'

Kronid sighed, 'Please not another secret that's just blown up in her face. It's her own fault! Let's go.'

Liniște didn't resist as Kronid pulled him downstairs with a backwards yell of goodbye to their cousins.

As Mircea had said Irinel did look rather teary, and Anastase, he was staring at the twins with a look of urgency on his face. Liniște tilted his head slightly to tell him that he understood: Anastase needed to talk to them, alone and soon.

Lăcrămioara was speaking to Irinel in a soft voice, one arm wrapped around her shoulder as she comfited her.

As the twins approached Irinel looked up, 'Did you have a good time, baieți? I hope so.'

'Hope it was better than ours', Anastase broke in harshly, 'Going to see Luminița was a total waste, she's just as insane as ever.'

Irinel drew in a deep breath before grabbing Anastase by the arm, 'Kronid, Liniște come on, we're leaving, now.'

She practically hauled Anastase out of the door, barely paused to seize the twins by the hands before she Disapparated, pulling them all into the suffocating tunnel.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Arriving back home Anastase wasted no time in seizing both his shopping bags and younger brothers and dragging all upstairs with him, out of Irinel's sight. Flinging up his bedroom door, he chucked the bags onto the floor before swiftly turning to lock the door.

'You. Will. Not. Believe! What Mamă told me today', Anastase started, 'She basically said outright that Camil drove Luminița insane, and then dropped some hefty hints that he killed Tata as well.'

The room fell deathly silent. Kronid and Liniște both frozen in shock. Anastase was breathing heavily with the relief of getting the dreadful suspicions off his chest.

'So', Liniște whispered softly, 'Our theory that Mamă's sudden desire to see Luminița after seven years was caused by Unchiule Camil's letter was right.'

'Don't call him that', Anastase snapped, 'He's no family of mine, not anymore. You have no idea what Luminița's like. The visit was awful.'

He then solemnly recounted the whole sorry story of the disastrous visit, including his and Irinel's screaming match in front of the ward and Matron – 'I was more embarrassed about her that the patients, they were mostly out of it anyway'-, his meeting with the boy Locryn – 'It was really nice meeting someone my age who I wasn't related to and just talking. Makes me wonder what Mamă's really so scared of, because Camil can't control everyone'-, Luminița's crazed pronouncement of revenge on her family – 'You'd think that if Camil was the one who drove her mad, she'd want him dead not the rest of us'-, and finally Irinel's attempt to defend her isolation of her children with the claim that it protected them from Camil.'

'Which is a load of rubbish', Anastase concluded, 'I pretended to agree with her and even told her that we'd been worried that something was up and had talked about it, but if it's because of Camil and Luminița then why are we still living in the exact same house as Mamă, Lăcrămioara, and Camil did when they were children? If your trying to hide from someone then moving house seems like a pretty obvious place to start, or even putting up protective spells, of which this house has none.'

Liniște frowned in thought, 'I agree. Kronid and I also spoke to Decebal and Simu, and they said that they'd had the same isolated life too. Decebal apparently hasn't made any friends at Hogwarts either, I'm not totally sure but I think that most parents might be a bit worried if their child didn't make any friends at all, Mircea did mention it to us but he said it like it was a joke. If this is about Camil then it's not just us, it's our cousins too. We also came up with the idea that the adults had driven Luminița mad, you just confirmed it for us. The major problem we found when it came to telling someone about all this is that we are children. No adult will think that we know better than them, and while there is ample proof of Mamă, Mircea, and Lăcrămioara being involved in something illegal, emotional abuse of us, for example, we don't have any for Camil. If our parents got arrested he would be our only adult relative which might put us in more danger than if we didn't say anything at all and just worked on it ourselves.'

'I see what you mean', Anastase said, 'I guess, now all we can do is wait, watch and listen.'

As it turned out the reality of their plan was more waiting with not a lot of watching or listening, and in the intervening days and weeks that followed the brothers found themselves with vast amounts of free time on their hands. This wasn't really unusual for them, but it seemed worse now that they were actively waiting for something, anything to happen.

Anastase took it upon himself to brew the, perfectly safe, Calming Draft that the twins requested he make for Simu so that he didn't have a panic attack while talking to his parents. The regular, timed motions of potions making were something that Anastase found soothing and passed the time quickly. Sneaking the prepared draft past Irinel, into Zgripțor's talons, and then sending it off hoping that it would be received and opened by Decebal or Simu well out of their parents' gazes, was somewhat nerve-wracking, until the owl returned bearing Decebal's thanks and short report of the, lack of, activity in the Grecueanu household. He also tore through his course books, memorising every spell and date he came across. If Kronid and Liniște had quoted what Decebal said correctly, which they generally did, then History of Magic was a bit of a joke class, so self-study might be the best way to go about it.

Kronid buried himself in his new books barely bothering to interact with anyone aside from Liniște, who was equally preoccupied with the Lunascope, both of them up at all hours of the night reading and moongazing respectfully.

It wasn't until late July almost a month after the fateful arrival of the Hogwarts letter that Irinel casually dropped the news that Decebal, Simu, both of their's parents, and Camil would all be coming to stay with them until the end of summer.

CRASH! Anastase let out a sharp gasp as Liniște's bowl of porridge slid from his nerveless fingers and fell the floor with a loud bang. Kronid eyed his brother and mother warily, while Anastase forced his face into expressionlessness. Irinel's faced pinched with annoyance, by this time she was fully aware that she was still in Anastase's bad graces and was under the, not unreasonable, assumption that this was causing the twins distance from her. The constant need to walk on eggshells around her sons was beginning to wear on her patients.

She jabbed her wand at the broken dish, 'Reparo. Wingardium Leviosa.'

Liniște winced at her angry tone, as the bowl repaired itself and the porridge flew off the floor and into the bin. Before meeting his brothers' faces. It was time, everything they'd been planning for, it was going to be tested.

Scrambling away from the kitchen as soon as they could, they reconvened in Anastase's bedroom for the first time since June.

Anastase locked his door before spinning back to the twins, 'This is it. It's happening. Whatever those letters were, Mamă and Lăcrămioara are going to discuss it and then confront Camil.'

'We can also see how much Mircea knows too', Kronid said, 'It's a good thing Decebal and Simu will be here because they can still keep an eye on their parents while we watch Camil.'

'Bearing in mind that we're going to have the more dangerous job', Liniște pointed out, 'Seeing as we agreed that he was probably behind everything.'

'All that means is that the smartest people should be the ones watching', Anastase smirked, 'And that's you two. I'll stick with Mamă, she's been desperate to get me to stop being angry with her, so if I decide to spend more time with her she'll jump on it.'

Liniște hummed in agreement, 'Yes, that's good, very good.'

Kronid smiled, Anastase closed his eyes and hoped.

The next day dawned bright and sunny, a harsh contradiction to the brothers' ominous feelings as they waited for their relatives to arrive.

Mircea, Lăcrămioara, Decebal and Simu appeared first, the crack of Apparition splitting the morning silence.

'Soră', Lăcrămioara cried as she walked towards them, 'It has been far too long since we have properly talked. You left in such a hurry last time.'

The look she shot Anastase said clearly that she blamed him for that. Personally, Anastase couldn't dispute that he had been involved in the fight that had driven Irinel to tears, and had been the one to end Kronid and Liniște's visit to their house so abruptly.

'Has your brother arrived yet?' Mircea asked, wishing to break the tension between nephew and aunt.

'No, he hasn't Unchiule Mircea', Anastase's tone was sickly sweet as he privately mocked both his aunt, who still didn't have a clue what had happened unless Mamă had contacted her about it – which he knew she hadn't after spying on her for the past month, and Camil, the one ultimately responsible for everything – Anastase couldn't wait until they had enough proof to get Camil caught with their parents so they could go to the Ministry.

Mircea and the sisters had only just settled down and started chatting when Camil appeared at the gate and began walking up the path.

Anastase rose to his feet, the twins flanking him. Decebal rocked back on his heels slightly before steadying himself, hand dropping to his pocket and wand. Simu grasped the back of Decebal's robes and tensed.

'Buna ziua, Camil', Irinel said, walking up to greet him.

He picked up her right hand in his own and kissed it, 'It has been a long-time sister. I see that your sons are well.'

'What a creep', Decebal hissed lowly.

Anastase bared his teeth at Camil in a cold grin, 'We are very well Camil, unfortunately out own sister is not nearly so. But then, you know all about that don't you?'

Camil blinked an affronted look on his face, 'If you are referring to the fact that I was the only member of this family to bother visiting her in seven years Anastase, then yes. I am fully aware of your sister's ill health. Though I must say I am surprised that neither you not your brothers ever seemed to care for her, I did think you better than that.'

'Never wondered if Mamă prevented us from seeing her then?' Anastase replied, a slight note of triumph in his voice.

'I'm afraid I don't know where you're going with this', Camil sounded genuinely confused.

'What do you mean you prevented them from seeing Luminița, Irinel?' Lăcrămioara's gaze flickered between Anastase, Camil, and Irinel, eyes wide with shock.

'I'm the only one of us who can remember Luminița', Anastase snarled, 'Kronid and Liniște didn't even know she existed until last year! Mamă forbade me from telling them about her. The only reason she ever explained herself was because I started a fight in the middle of St Mungo's Janus Thickly Ward! Of course, she never let us see her.'

'Why would you do such a thing?' Mircea was appalled, 'And that also explains why you were crying when you got to our house, Anastase had just confronted you about it!'

'Camil, Lăcrămioara, I invited you here for a reason. I will explain everything, I promise', Irinel whispered, 'Please, let us talk.'

'We certainly need to', Lăcrămioara sounded like she was about to spit fire.

Camil simply nodded before turning to Mircea, 'You should come with us, it will save Mio from having to explain later.'

Irinel looked at the cousins still standing on the steps, 'Wait out here until we're done, alright? Just talk or…something.' She hurried off flustered.

Anastase only waited a few seconds before following her into the house. If they ever were going to get any proof of wrongdoing it was now.

'Wait!', Liniște grabbed his hand, 'That door creaks, they'll hear us.'

'We have to be able to hear them though', Simu said, 'Are you sure they're through here?'

Anastase sighed, 'I forgot about that, and yes Simu they are though here, well not straight through, this door leads into an anteroom, our parents will be in the room beyond that, and I can't remember what that's called.'

'Is there another way in?' Decebal asked.

'No, there isn't', Kronid started, he paused, 'But you have your wand with you!'

'Uh, yeah. Why?' Decebal frowned.

'Silencing Charm', Kronid explained, 'I don't know if you've covered it yet, but I've read about it. The incantation is Silencio, the wand movement is a sharp jab.'

'I can't do magic outside school though, I'll get caught', Decebal pointed out.

Anastase shook his head, 'Doesn't work like that. The Trace, what the MOM uses to catch underaged wizardry, can't tell if you're casting the spell or if Mamă or one of your parents is. It works brilliantly in Muggleborn homes, which I guess is where it's most important, but it means that in Wizarding Homes we can cast almost anything and not get in trouble.'

Decebal and Simu gaped, 'Why haven't Mum and Dad told us this?' Decebal squawked.

'Probably didn't want you taking advantage of it like we are now', Anastase shrugged, 'Now do it.'

'Okay', Decebal looked nervous as he pointed his wand at the door, 'I've never done this before or even heard of it but… Silencio!'

Nothing happened.

'How do we know if it's worked?' Simu asked.

'Not a clue', Anastase replied before opening the door.

It slid back without a sound. Anastase gasped in quiet relief. Decebal went wide-eyed with joy over his success.

'I'm glad that worked, and on my first go too! I've never been able to do that before', he grinned.

'Good', Liniște whispered, 'Now quite. They're only through the next door.' He pointed at it.

The cousins crept across the carpeted floor. Anastase pressed his eye to the keyhole and looked in.

The drawing room, as Anastase could now recall, was one of the few rooms in the house that was as lavishly decorated as the exterior of the building might suggest. Elegant settees with matching footrests sat on a plush, cream coloured carpet, while the walls were covered in fleur-de-lis patterned paper. Large windows on the far wall gave an excellent view over the back garden. An enormous dining table was the centrepiece of the room, Anastase could only feel grateful that they'd never actually used it for eating instead using the one in the kitchen.

It was around this table that Irinel, Camil, Mircea, and Lăcrămioara sat. Camil at the head, Irinel directly opposite him, with the other two sitting in between looking highly uncomfortable.

They seemed to be in the middle of a discussion of some sort, Anastase realised as he picked through at them.

'This is wrong!', Lăcrămioara protested, 'I agreed to keep my children shut away from the rest of the world only so that they would be safe from you! I married Mircea because I didn't agree with this madness.'

'Leave us alone', Mircea pleaded, 'We won't tell the boys what's going on, we won't even report you to the Ministry, though Merlin knows we should, and for more than one reason.'

Camil sneered at them, 'Are you really that stupid or are you just deaf? Did you not hear a single word I just said? The Dark Lord – Voldemort – is back. He never died that Halloween night ten years ago. He fled and now he has returned. You know that I spend time in Europe, searching for our family's legacy, and it was in Albania that I first sensed him. Now he has moved from there, and he is coming to Britain. What he follows I do not know, but this will change all.'

Anastase jolted back from the door and slumped to the floor in a dazed mix of shock and horror. Voldemort, what did Camil have to do with him? Of all of the possible explanations for Camil's threatening presence in their lives and nightmarish treatment of Luminița, him being involved with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had not occurred to them. Was he a Death Eater? No, that didn't fit, like the rest of the family Camil was no blood purist, and he would have helped You-Know-Who in that case, not run back to Britain to tell his sisters. What legacy was he talking about? Anastase could not for the life of him recall any ancestor who had been rich or famous enough to leave a legacy of any kind.

'Anastase!'

Anastase gasped, heading jerking up as he realised that Liniște had been whisper-shouting his name for the past couple of minutes.

'What is it?', Decebal asked worried, 'You went really pale. What's going on?'

'You won't believe what Camil just said', Anastase rasped out.

'Why? What did he say?' Kronid gazed deep into his eyes.

'Voldemort's back, according to Camil he never died in the first place, he fled, ran away to Albania, but now something's brought him back to England', Anastase could hear the dead flatness in his own voice, as he repeated Camil's words.

'What?!', Decebal tried to keep his voice down, 'Voldemort? Are you sure? What's he got to do with all this?' Incredulity swamped him.

Liniște pressed his own ear to the door, shushing him.

'Your obsession with the Astarákos legacy will be your downfall', Lăcrămioara said coldly, 'Just as it was Radoslav's.'

'Don't you dare say that soră!' Irinel suddenly shouted, 'Keep my husband out of it!'

Simu, Kronid, and Decebal all went wide-eyed at her bellow, what was going on in there?

'Enough of all this!', Mircea cried, 'I cannot believe that you hid this from me Mio! I knew my family distanced itself from yours for a reason but this insanity?! Your brother drove our nice insane by using her in a Dark Magic ritual when she was two months old - I didn't even know that rituals existed outside of theory! - Radoslav killed himself trying to reverse the damage when she was six and obviously failed, and then Irinel sent Luminița away under the deluded belief that it would keep her safe, which also failed, as Camil – the one who used her in the first place – was the only person to visit her there and continued to twist her! And now he thinks that Voldemort returning is a good thing and marks the perfect time to retry his ritual! You're all mad and I want nothing more to do with any of this', he paused blinking tears out of his eyes, 'Lăcrămioara, either end this madness and go to the Ministry, or I will take the boys and go myself. I cannot condone this, ever.'

'Soră, if you betray us I will never forgive you', Irinel howled.

Liniște gasped his fingers tightening on the door frame, she was crazy, he thought dimly, they all were.

'Mircea', Lăcrămioara shook utterly devastated, 'I'm so sorry.'

Liniște looked on in horror as she drew out her wand.

'What?' Mircea wasn't looking at her.

Liniște wanted to yell at him to move.

Lăcrămioara lifted her wand up and pointed it at him. Mircea slowly twisted around to face it.

'So, it has come to this', Camil seemed almost delighted.

'Mio, please', Mircea whispered, 'Think of our sons-'

'Obliviate!'

Liniște clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent a scream.

Mircea collapsed back against his chair, eyes fogging over as his memories of the last hour slipped away.

Kronid grabbed Liniște and shook him, 'What is it? What's going on?' Panic filled his voice as he glanced back and forwards between his frozen twin and still shaking older brother.

Liniște waved him off, hushing him frantically as he continued to watch the scene unfold.

'I will keep this secret', Lăcrămioara hissed, 'But you will keep both Mircea and myself out of this. Do you understand brother?!' her voice became a high scream.

'We understand, don't we Camil', Irinel said icily, 'You and your precious husband can stay safe and cosy in your own happy little world.'

'You have lost so much sister', Lăcrămioara replied, 'And I feel sorry for you, but I feel more sorrow for your sons who must live with you as you become a twisted, bitter shrew of a woman.'

'Get out!' Irinel spat, 'I have had enough of your attitude! I wish you and all your family would burn! Now, out! Out of my house!'

Liniște lept back from the door, dragging his twin with him, and urgently gesturing to Simu, Decebal and Anastase. They'd only barely made it out of the anteroom, into the corridor, and onto the stairs when Irinel flung the drawing-room door open, shoving Lăcrămioara in front of her. Camil stood just behind her, pulling along a limp looking Mircea.

Catching sight of the cousins huddled on the stairs, Irinel's face darken, 'Take the brats with you!' she snarled at her sister.

'Mum! What's going on?' Decebal gaped at the state of them.

'Decebal, Simu, we're leaving, now', Lăcrămioara hurried them down towards the door, before pausing on the front steps, 'You need not fear Irinel. I will never set foot in this accursed house again. If you or Camil ever come near me again, I shall make you wish you'd never been born!'

With those final parting words, she turned on her heels and swept her sons and husband into a Side-Along Apparition.

Irinel spun to stare at the brothers still standing on the stairs, 'Up to your rooms now! All of you! Don't argue just go!'

Unwilling to test her patience they ran. Scrambling into Anastase's bedroom they carefully locked the door before collapsing onto the bed.

'What in Moşul's name happened down there?' Kronid demanded, 'Why did Mamă throw Lăcrămioara out, and what was wrong with Mircea? He looked really dazed or something!'

Liniște shook his head, 'I didn't understand all of it, I did hear, but Lăcrămioara was saying that Camil was obsessed with the Astarákos legacy and that it would kill him like it did Tata. Mamă was furious with her for saying that, we all know she's still enamoured with his memory, and started screaming at her, I think you all heard that. Then Mircea was going on about everything Lăcrămioara had hidden from him, we were right you see, he was innocent. Camil…made, a ritual, a Dark Magic ritual, and he used Luminița in it when she was a couple of months old. That's what drove her mad. Tata tried to reverse it when she was six-'

'And I think I know why he tried', Anastase interrupted, 'When I was four, she nearly killed me, not on purpose, but she was scared, didn't know who I was, and didn't know her own strength. I was a child and it ended with me unconscious for three days. It was less than a month after that when Mamă found his body lying in the garden. I never made the connection before, never had any reason to.'

Liniște paused, imagining what must have gone through Radoslav's head, one child almost killing another, family falling apart, it must have seemed like a good option.

'Well, whatever the cause, that attempt was what killed him. Reversing the ritual, not much is known about rituals in general, much less one that Camil invented himself. It probably just backfired before he even knew something was going wrong', Liniște pondered, 'Mamă really did think that sending Luminița away would keep her safe, it failed but was done in good faith. What Mircea was really against though was Camil believing that Voldemort's return marked the perfect time for retrying his ritual. He threatened to go to the Ministry and… Lăcrămioara Obliviated him. That was why he was all limp. He won't remember any of today or maybe even yesterday depending on how strong the spell was. Lăcrămioara said that Mamă and Camil could do whatever they wanted to, as long as they left her and Mircea alone.' Liniște let out a long breath, 'We really are in deep trouble now. This isn't a silly game anymore.'

'No', Anastase rasped, 'It never should have been. What do we do now? Are we still safe here?'

Kronid was white with shock, 'I don't know the answers to any of that, but we do need to contact Simu and Decebal. Neither of them knows any of this. We have to warn them because I don't know if it was deliberate or if she knew what she'd done, but when Lăcrămioara was telling Camil and Mamă to leave Mircea alone she didn't mention our cousins! Perhaps Camil also failed to realise that but I didn't and that means that either he or Mamă might notice, and that will put them in danger.'

If we had a normal family we could go to someone', Anastase nearly wailed.

'If we had a normal family we wouldn't be having this conversation, Anastase, so stop crying!', Liniște snapped harshly, 'We need to be smart about this, we have to be.'

Kronid, the least in shock due to having heard all the news second hand, was the one who ran downstairs to interrogate Irinel and Camil about why the cousins had left so swiftly.

Barging straight into the drawing room, he ignored Irinel's angry splutter and Camil's muttered comment about teaching children manner, if Camil's idea of manners was totally crazy then he could stick his "teachings" where the sun didn't shine in Kronid's opinion.

'Kronid, I told you to go upstairs, now go', Irinel ordered.

'No, I won't go!' Kronid made his voice as stroppy and childish as he could, adding a hard foot stomp to compound it, 'I want to know why Simu and Decebal had to leave so soon, we'd barely started talking!' He inwardly winced at the sheer whininess in his own words, it was almost physically painful!

'Kronid, don't try me please!' Irinel growled, 'Now do as your told!'

'No!' Kronid yelled, 'I want to know! I won't go!' He clenched his hands into fists and scrunched his face up as if he were about to have a tantrum, it took every millimetre of self-control not to collapse howling with laughter. How did some children do this for real, he wondered?

'Oh, shut up you infernal brat!' Camil roared at him.

Kronid fell silent instantly, tensing his body to run. Without a wand, he didn't stand a chance against Camil in a head-on fight but if he dodged quickly enough, he might just buy himself enough time to flee.

Irinel leapt to her feet and shoved herself between them, 'No, brother, you will not touch any of my children. Not again. Leave them alone', she turned around to face Kronid before kneeling to look him in the eye, 'Kronid, I know you must be so confused at the moment, but please do as I say and go upstairs. Everything will be alright, I'll make sure of it. Now, go and be with your brothers.'

'Yes Mamă, I'll go and be with Liniște and Anastase', Kronid parroted her words softly.

Rushing back to Anastase's room he internally shuddered. Camil was outright dangerous, Mamă, on the other hand, couldn't seem to decide between caring mother and complete madwoman.

One-week later Camil was still staying in the Atarescu house and the brothers had never been more grateful for its large size. Sneaking about the place and avoiding Mamă had become part of everyday life now, and Anastase has started joking that they would all turn into moles if they weren't careful. Liniște personally wasn't sure about moles, but ghouls seemed very likely.

He slipped lightly through the back door, clutching a letter in his hand. It was addressed for Decebal and Simu and held all the details of the Atarescu and Grecueanu adults' conversation from the previous Saturday written down as a warning to the cousins. The letter had been ready to be sent the night after the conversation had taken place, but the brothers hadn't dared sent it until they were sure they wouldn't get caught. Even as Liniște hurried down the garden and into the owlery, Anastase was running interference with Irinel and Camil in the kitchen, while Kronid served as a lookout from the hallway.

'Zgripțor', Liniște hissed, calling the owl to him, 'A letter for Decebal and Simu, you must make sure it gets to them, and do not let Mircea or Lăcrămioara take it. You understand?'

Zgripțor blinked large yellow eyes at him and hooted, almost like he was replying. He ruffled his feathers in a reassuringly business-like fashion before spreading his wings and taking flight.

Liniște stood in the doorway to the owlery and watched as he disappeared over the rooftops of London. Whatever path they would take now, lay in the owl's claws, and the reply he would hopefully bare back.

Decebal rolled over in his bed, he was restless and unable to sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes wearily, what was going on back with his cousins? He'd been waiting for something, anything to come from them, but a week later, nothing. Simu was frantic about them, though the one upshot of the fiasco was that Simu no longer needed to take Calming Drafts as it was perfectly understandable for him to be stressed and panicked considering they had been literally thrown out of their relative's house.

A quite tapping at his windowsill made him jump, he whirled to face it, and froze.

'You', Decebal gasped, 'I've been waiting to see you arrive. You just had to pick the middle of the night to show up, didn't you?'

Zgripțor, the Atarescu's family owl hovered outside his room. Opening the window, Decebal leaned out to catch the bird on his arm and drew him in. Placing Zgripţor on the headrest of his bed, Decebal retrieved the letter that was tied around the owl's leg.

Pulling it open he began to read and felt his insides turn to solid ice. The parchment dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers and he scrambled for a quill.

Finding one, he ripped a corner of the original letter off and scribbled on the back of it:

Dear Cousins,

Simu and I are well. The news you have given me is terrible. I will burn the letter and tell Simu what you've sent.

Stay safe.

Decebal

He wrapped the scrap of parchment up and tied it back onto Zgripțor leg.

'Fly fast, fly safe. Do not let anyone other than Anastase, Liniște or Kronid take this, or we are all dead', Mair whispered to the owl.

As he had with Liniște, Zgripțor let out a cool, haughty hoot as if to say when have I ever let anyone, but the intended recipient take a letter?

'I don't know', Decebal informed the owl, 'But better safe than sorry.'

Reassured by confirming the others good health, Anastase, Liniște, and Kronid started to focus more of their efforts to pretending that everything was perfectly fine and normal, while also doing their best to eavesdrop on as many conversations as they could and remain in contact with their, now taboo to mention, cousins.

It was, Anastase mused, a very fine balance to keep.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

Another month later, and it was August 31st. On the very next day, Anastase and Decebal would both be leaving for Hogwarts. None of them had been able to catch any more information than what they'd already had and Camil had left the Atarescu house the day previously to great silent applause from the twins.

Irinel walked into Anastase's room that night as he was sorting through his stuff, trying to decide what to pack.

'Are you looking forward to leaving?'

Anastase jumped, 'Mamă, you scared me. I didn't hear you come in.'

'I'm sorry', Irinel's tone was carefully detached, 'Are you though? Looking forward to going? Because to quote yourself, "I am not blind". I know that you and the twins listened in on the argument Camil and I had with Lăcrămioara.'

Anastase went stiff, 'I don't know what you're on about. The twins and I are perfectly aware that there was an argument but that was because you literally threw them out the house! It wasn't like you bothered to try and hide it, did you?'

How did she know that they'd eavesdropped? They'd been as careful as possible…

'Just because I can't prove it, I know my sons', Irinel said, 'You would never have rested without finding out what we wanted to keep from you. Will you be relieved, I wonder, to be able to get out from under my watchful eye? Do you hate it here now?'

'Yes', Anastase replied instantly, without even thinking, 'I do hate it here. This place, it's not a home, it's a cage. Camil is a rabid animal that deserves to be put down, and you are protecting him', his mouth twisted with disgust, 'I will be glad to be out of here, my only regret is that Kronid and Liniște cannot come with me. You can be very sure, Mamă, that the first thing I do when I turn seventeen, will be to leave this house and never come back.'

'I thought, that, that would be your answer', Irinel's breath caught in her throat, 'I agree with you. When you can, run. Run and do not look back. Flee from this family, and its name as far as you can. It brings only horror in its wake.'

Anastase stared, as with these ominous words of warning, Irinel swept from his room.

He blocked the conversation out of his head, storing it for a later discussion with the twins, before turning back to the truly spectacular mess on his bed.

Right, all of his course books, into the trunk, except…Fantastic Beasts was still in the living room.

He ran downstairs, taking the steps two at a time, before dashing into the lounge to grab the book, and shooting back up as fast as he could to avoid running back into Irinel.

Clothes next, school robes and new everyday wear, potions ingredients, both those needed in class and his own extracurricular ones, cauldron, vials, hat, scales, and everything else all got packed away.

He tucked his wand up his sleeve and looked around again. That seemed to be everything school related at least.

He ran a finger along the spins of his books, before grabbing a handful of them and shoving them into his trunk, he did get bored easily, after all, he told himself, it didn't have to be because he was considering running away and didn't want to leave them behind.

Deliberately ignoring the nagging feelings of fear and doubt that swam around his mind, Anastase wandered over to the twins' room. Kronid sat on his bed, head tucked inside a book, Liniște was standing on a chair in the middle of the room, apparently trying to catch a spider.

Anastase blinked, 'What are you doing to the poor thing?'

'Nothing', Liniște huffed, 'I just want to see what it feels like, to hold I mean.'

'Right, I see', Anastase didn't, 'Mamă came into my room a minute ago. She asked me if I wanted to get out of here.'

Kronid lifted his head up, 'What did you say? Did you tell her the truth?'

'Funny you should mention the truth', Anastase said wryly, 'I did tell her that I wanted nothing more than to leave and never come back, I was very frank about my opinion, but then she said that she knew that we'd heard everything in her and Camil's fight with Lăcrămioara. She said that she knew us.'

'She is our mother', Kronid pointed out, 'She raised us. If anyone could tell we were hiding something it would be her.'

'Hmm, you're right', Liniște said, 'But that raises the question of why didn't she tell Camil? I'm fairly sure that if he knew we'd been listening we wouldn't be sitting here to take about it afterwards.'

Anastase shrugged, 'I don't know whether I'm right of course, but I feel as though Mamă is playing all of us in a far more complex way than we realise yet. Maybe she's trying to keep us safe. After all, it was her daughter that was most affected after Camil's last attempt at his ritual.'

'Perhaps, but why wouldn't she tell us?' Kronid asked.

'Because she's afraid', Anastase reached out to grasp Kronid's wrist, 'Most people when they're frightened become more irrational. In Mamă's mind we're still little children who can't protect themselves, and in some respects she right, but in this case, we could help ourselves a lot more if we knew what we were up against.'

As the conversation trailed off to quite pondering, Anastase left the room, heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Lying awake in bed, he couldn't help but compare it to his restlessness the night his Hogwarts letter had come, only now there was no letter he could write to calm down, no way to tell himself that they were overreacting. Not anymore.

It was with this dark thought that he fell into a disturbed sleep.

Clawing the sheets off of him, Anastase woke covered in sweat and gasping. Twisting and confused dreams still spinning in front of his eyes. He grunted as he wiped the sleep from crusted lids, he felt more exhausted than he had before he'd even gone to sleep the night before.

As he stumbled out of bed, he clumsily pulled on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt, wizard he might be, but wandering into the middle of King's Cross Station, the entrance to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters from which the Hogwarts Express left, wearing robes still wasn't the best idea even if the Muggles had stopped burning witches centuries ago, and not very effectively at that.

Wandering down to the kitchen, Anastase found Kronid and Liniște already sitting at the table.

'What are you two doing down here so early? It's not like you're the ones going!' he exclaimed in surprise at seeing them awake and functioning before 10 o'clock.

'Oh, so we can't get up early to especially see our beloved big brother off to Hogwarts, then?' Liniște muttered sarcastically.

Anastase grinned him, 'Just amazed to see the ghouls up before me! You didn't have to do this you know? I would have come in and said goodbye anyway.'

'We know', Kronid said firmly, 'But all things considered, we felt it would be nicer if we were up to see you go.'

Anastase nodded, if Anastase really did decide to follow through on his thoughts of running away, then this could be the last time they saw each other for quite a while, and even if he didn't he was still going to be at Hogwarts until Christmas at the earliest.

Irinel walked into the room and paused at the threshold, 'Good morning Anastase, are you ready to go after you've eaten?'

She didn't show any sign of remembering Anastase's comments of the previous day.

'Yes, I am, 'Anastase said, 'We can go as soon as I've had breakfast.'

He hastily shovelled down some toast and eggs before running to get his trunk down the stairs and into the hallway.

Irinel waited for him in utter silence as he hugged Liniște and Kronid tightly.

'Stay safe both of you, if Camil comes back, tell me immediately. If Decebal and I find out anything at Hogwarts I'll tell you, okay?' Anastase stepped back to look at them, 'Be careful, don't get hurt, and if you need to get out…then don't hesitate and don't think. Just do it!'

'We will', Liniște reassured him, 'We're not stupid, remember? We know what we're doing, and if we get any solid, undeniable proof, we'll go straight to the Ministry.'

'See that you do', Anastase whispered, 'Oh I'll miss you both so much!' he gasped, 'I love you, and stay smart frați mai mici. Te iubesc atât de mult.' He then walked over to Irinel and stiffy took her hand, 'I'm ready to go now.'

She gave a sharp nod in response, he bent to tighten his grip on his trunk, and then Irinel dragged them both into the suffocating tunnel of Apparition.

They arrived in a narrow alleyway just around the corner from King's Cross Station. Anastase pulled away from Irinel as soon as he could and picked up his trunk. It was in stony silence that they made their way into the station.

The building was packed and bustling with hundreds of Muggles as they rushed to and fro catching different trains. Anastase pulled ahead of Irinel as he made his way through the crowd to platform nine. He stood by the barrier to wait for her and looked at the large plastic signs that proclaimed which number it was. It was funny he thought, that the Muggles liked to label everything so ostentatiously when the Wizarding community was built on secrecy.

'Make sure no one sees us going through', Irinel warned as she stepped up beside him.

Anastase jerked his head in acknowledgement, before leaning slightly on the barrier, he smiled as he felt it give way, effortlessly sliding through the gateway under the cover of a large group of chattering women.

The other side of the barrier was a wrought-iron archway, rather than a ticket box, upon which the words "platform nine and three-quarters," were written. Hanging from the ceiling was a sign that said, 'Hogwarts Express, 11 o'clock'.

Anastase hummed approvingly, he had plenty of time to find Decebal and get settled into a compartment, after Irinel had left.

As this thought crossed his mind, she passed through the gateway with a graceful flowing motion.

'Muggles, they're always there, and it's so hard to work out when they'll be gone', she sighed.

Turning to Anastase she took a hold of his shoulders, 'Anastase, I know you're angry with me, if I were you, I would be angry with myself, but please be good, don't get in trouble, and for Moşul's sake, be careful! Don't accidentally blow yourself up performing some mad Potions experiment or get expelled for testing an old spell on one of your classmates, alright?'

'Yes, Mamă. I'll be careful', Anastase snapped, 'You don't need to worry about me.' The question Anastase thought was, do I need to worry about you?!

'Good', Irinel tried to smile at him, 'I do love you Anastase. I want you safe, no matter what you might think.'

'I know that', Anastase cried, 'The problem is that you hold physical safety above all else, but the twins and I don't. We need peace of mind, we need to know. And if you won't tell us, then we'll find out for ourselves. You can't stop that, we won't let you', he stated bitterly.

Irinel lowered her head in shame, 'I know, but I must do my best. That is all anyone can do.'

'Some people are just better than other', Anastase agreed. He turned away from her, 'Goodbye Mămica. I hope things will change. Look after the twins for me?'

'Of course, I will, I'm their mother! I know you know them best, but they are still mine!' Irinel shook her head, 'Is this really how little you think of me as a mother?'

Anastase didn't reply, instead walking away towards the train. He stopped at the door and turned back to look at Irinel, she was a dark shadow, hidden and obscured by the smoke pouring from the red, steam engine. A pang cut through his heart, for all she had done, she was still his Mamă. Up until two months ago, he had loved her more than anyone except for his brothers, now, she was nothing more than an oppressor, someone that keep them hidden away and trapped, unable to do anything, much less help themselves. It hurt, that feeling of betrayal. The one person he should have been able to trust to care for him, instead, making him a virtual prisoner.

Shaking away the pain, he refocused on the present. He was going away. He was going to experience true freedom for the first time ever. He could do whatever he wanted to, within reason. Nothing could stop him from having friends, or from helping poor Decebal from making some.

Grinning to himself he stooped down to pick up his trunk and almost fell over as he abruptly realised just how much Irinel had lighted it for him.

'Umpf!' he gasped as he heaved at the now extremely heavy trunk.

'Are you alright?' a rather timid sounding voice inquired from behind him.

Anastase winced 'No!' he huffed as he almost dropped his trunk on his toes.

He turned to look at the speaker, it was a skinny looking boy, about his own age. He was shorter than Anastase and hunched up as if trying to become even small. Pale ice blue eyes peeped up him through a fringe of pure white hair.

The other boy smiled at him sympathetically before his gaze flickered away, 'Here, let me help you.', he turned around and called out softly, 'Locryn, could you please lend a hand over here?'

Anastase blinked at him, 'Did you say Loc-?'

'-Well, hello there mystery boy!', the silver-haired Locryn, whom Anastase had met at St Mungo's appeared over the boy's shoulder, grinning like a cat.

The blond boy spluttered, 'You're mystery boy?!'

'You gave me a nickname?' Anastase asked, half shocked that Locryn, a perfectly normal person with no concerns over crazed relatives had even bothered to remember him much less tell others about him, and half annoyed at the name.

'Got a problem with that?' Locryn asked, mock offended, 'I actually started calling you that as a joke as I ran off, if you can recall, it was only after I'd got back home and started to tell Tregi over there-'

'Do not call me that', the white hair boy squawked, 'Locy!'

Locryn winced, 'As you may have realised, both of our's parents went a bit mad in the creative names department, they're bad enough when you say them properly but shortened…' He shuddered dramatically.

Anastase laughed, 'They're not that bad', he observed, 'My name is Anastase, Anastase Atarescu. I also have two younger brothers, twins, Kronid and Liniște.'

'Not British then I gather?' Locryn said, 'We are, from Cornwall to be exact.'

He stopped and looked around the station, 'Anyway, we'd do better to finish this conversation on the train rather than stand here blocking the door!'

The trio hauled their trunks onto the carriage. Anastase peered into one the compartments.

'This one's empty, let go in,' he called. Pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Locryn and "Tregi" followed after him. Settling down, Locryn leaned across the seat towards him with a broad smile.

'So, Mr Mystery', he began with a serious look on his face, 'What's the verdict over your new name? Are we to be the best of friends for life or are you contemplating eternal revenge on me?'

Anastase rolled his eyes at his overly dramatic posturing, it was like the twins at their very worst, 'Call me Mr Mystery again and I will have revenge on you, but aside from that, we're good', he paused then, 'Or I think we are, as a carry on from my word vomit at St Mungo's, my family is…strange, shall we say. I've never had a proper friend before, the only people my age that I know are my brothers and cousins!'

'That is so weird', "Tregi" said, 'I'm Tregereth by the way, dreadful name, isn't it? But Mum's always been a bit batty, and with a name like Sybill, what can you expect?!'

'My aunt's name is Lăcrămioara, so I think my family can still top yours if this is a competition', Anastase mused.

'It's not really', Locryn smirked, 'But it is interesting and also nice to know that we're not going to be the only people at Hogwarts with odd names, though yours is pretty normal for your family whereas ours, is somewhat less so.'

'So, are you two twins or something?' Anastase asked, trying to work out the relationship between the boys.

'What? Oh, no', Locryn shook his head, 'We're cousins, I mentioned him when we were at St Mungo's because he has to go there sometimes. I live with him and his Mum because my parents were both killed in 1980, just before You-Know-Who was defeated.'

'I'm going into first year this year', Tregereth informed him, 'Locryn is in second. He's a Slytherin.'

Anastase nodded thoughtfully, 'I'm going into first too, but my cousin, Decebal, is in third year, he's a Gryffindor though so you probably wouldn't know him, even if he did socialise more.'

'Nope never heard of him', Locryn confirmed, 'Slytherin and Gryffindor are notorious for their strong rivalry, not to mention I'm pretty unsociable most of the time. Two loners from opposing Houses taking notice of each other, that's the kind of thing that only happens in trashy romance novels, where the "loners" are a handsome boy and beautiful girl who are tragically misunderstood by the rest of the world. If it weren't for your "word vomit" as you put it, I would never have bothered remembering you, but after that particular spiel, you were pretty memorable.'

'I was right too', Anastase added, his voice had fallen to a whisper.

'What do you mean? You were right about your Uncle being up to something illegal?' Locryn asked he looked concerned, 'Did you go and tell anyone? Your mother?'

'It's a very long story', Anastase started, 'I think that I should wait until Decebal arrives, he needs to know some stuff. It's much worse than we thought it was.'

They lapsed into a quite tranquillity as they waited for more people to arrive and start entering the train. Anastase pulled out a book and buried himself in it, while Locryn and Tregereth started playing a game of wizard's chess.

After a while, Anastase looked up from the book, a truly fascinating case study on the effects of potion overdoses, and glanced out of the compartment window. The platform now bustled frantically in counterpoint with its Muggle twin, adults and children alike running around. The combined noise of hundreds of chattering people and the disconsolate hooting of owls formed a cacophony.

'It's almost 11 o'clock now', Tregereth told him, 'We'll be leaving anytime now. I wonder where your cousin is.'

No sooner had he spoken than the compartment door slid open.

Decebal stood at the threshold and started in surprise at the sight of Locryn and Tregereth.

'Hello, Anastase, who's this?' he smiled.

'Locryn and Tregereth…', he frowned, 'I don't actually know your surnames, but Tregereth is a first year like me, while Locryn is a second year Slytherin.'

'Nice to meet you both', Decebal replied crisply as he sat down next to his cousin, 'Anastase, don't we need to talk about, well, what happened over the summer?'

'Yes, we do', Anastase confirmed, 'Locryn already knows some of what I'm going to say because he was the one I had a bit of a breakdown with at St Mungo's', he explained.

'Do you want to tell them everything?' Decebal asked, 'It seems a bit dangerous, not to mention if Camil ever found out!'

'It's our choice', Tregereth spoke up, 'If you're okay with us hearing this, then we can decide if we want to hear it. I, personally, do want to. If you need help, if you are in danger, having just one more person in the know could save your lives. If you vanished one day and nobody knew, then the teachers would be puzzled, but if you vanished and we knew you might be in trouble and told them that, then they would probably call the Aurors.'

'He's right Decebal', Anastase said calmly, 'I wasn't a factor for me, but it is relevant.'

'It's not us I'm worried about', Decebal countered, 'We're in danger no matter what we do now, but it's not Locryn or Tregereth's family, is it? Right now, they can both walk away and forget about us, if we tell them everything, do you really, truly think, that Camil or Irinel would ever let them do that? You told me what Mum did to Dad, and he was totally zoned out for weeks afterwards. What do you think that would do to an eleven-year-old? If Camil didn't just kill them on the spot, anyway?'

'I don't want to die horribly', Tregereth stated, 'But I still want to know, besides you could argue that us knowing about this danger of yours, will let us prepare and defend against it better.'

'Won't lie', Locryn snapped, 'I don't like any of this, but I would rather know the danger and work out a way to solve the problem before it affects me than wait and constantly be cowering and looking over my shoulder in fear.'

Anastase stared out of the carriage window blankly, as he watched a small dark-haired boy dropped his trunk as he tried to push it into an end compartment, and a tubby boy clutching a toad rushed past the window.

He turned to Decebal, they met each other's eyes, and then they began to talk.

It was strange having to explain all of their family's turbulent history as background to the whole sorry tale, once they'd given a short explanation Anastase started talking about Luminița, what had happened to her, what she was like now, and the showdown in the Janus Thickly Ward.

'She was the one you were visiting', Locryn said, 'I can't believe your Mum didn't see her for seven years!'

Decebal sighed wearily as he continued to mention the twins and their, at the time, disbelieve able theories.

'They sound very clever', Tregereth observed softly.

'They are', Anastase said grimly, 'Too clever for their own good.'

He went on to explain Camil's horrible visit, the fight between Irinel and Lăcrămioara, and Mircea's memory modification.

Locryn gaped in horror, 'So, your crazy uncle wants to redo a ritual, A RITUAL! One that went wrong the first time, because he thinks You-Know-Who is still alive. Your Mum is going along with this, even though he drove her daughter mad, and your Dad died trying to reverse its effects. Your Mum', he turned to look at Decebal, 'Has basically promised to give them free rein as long as they leave her and your Dad alone but forgot to include you and your little brother in this. And all of you spent your summer panicking over this!'

'Yes', Anastase looked at him calmly, 'We did, what else could we do?'

'I don't know', Locryn hissed, 'Maybe do as I said at St Mungo's and tell someone! Tell the Ministry at this point it's that bad!'

'You need to listen better', Anastase said coldly, 'If you'd paid the slightest bit of attention, you would realise that we did seriously consider it. Until we realised that we had no proof what so ever. I believe that in order for a crime to be punished, there must be evidence, after all in the system we live in, you are innocent until proven guilty.'

Locryn opened his mouth to respond when the train started to move. They all watched as the parents and sibling of students stood on the platform and waved as they rushed by.

Outside the compartment, in the corridor, footsteps passed by as people wandered about meeting friends and finding compartments.

'We're going now', Anastase spoke, 'For the first time…I am free. No Mamă, no Camil, no one watching me, no one to stop me from being…normal.'

'It's terrible what your family have done', Locryn sounded angry, 'It's worse that you can't bring them to justice for it. I'm not hesitant anymore. I will help you.'

Decebal snorted, 'Can you imagine the looks on Snape and McGonagall's faces if they saw a Slytherin and Gryffindor agreeing to help each other? They'd both die of heart failure!'

'Gryffindors are brave', Locryn said, 'But we Slytherins are cunning. I'll come up with the mad plans and you can carry them out!'

'Excuse me!' Anastase butted in, 'Seeing as I'm the one that already acts like the penultimate Ravenclaw shouldn't I be coming up the plans, or even the twins, they're smarter than most random five adults out there combined!'

'I said mad plans', Locryn pointed out, 'You can make sure that they work!'

Tregereth smiled, 'And as I'm the only one that cares, I'll be the one making sure that your crazy schemes don't hurt anyone else. We have to remember that almost nobody knows that we exist much less that this is even happening.'

'Sometimes you can't care', Anastase argued, 'If I had to choose between my life, or my bothers lives and that of a stranger, I would choose for the stranger to die every time. I don't think that's wrong.'

'Not always', Tregereth accepted, 'But what if it was many strangers, what if it was a baby, what if it was the Minister of Magic. What if it was an entire city? Is it so clearly cut then? Because I don't it is.'

'No', Anastase said, 'But I would still choose my life or the life of someone I cared for over that of someone I didn't. No matter who they were, how important they, what age they were, even a city…people have kids, give birth. It's not like a country could never recover from that. Does that make me a bad person?'

'No', Locryn stated firmly, 'It just makes you ruthless, and determined to protect those you love. You're what a parent should be like.'

That, Anastase thought was horrifying, and very sobering. This realisation of what a parent should be like was a far cry from the reality of Irinel, and even Mircea and Lăcrămioara were hardly innocent in this.

He stared unseeing out of the window, blind to the sight of lush green fields passing by, lost in his own memories. Decebal retreated into a book, shrinking away from Locryn and Tregereth's attempts to talk. Seeing that their company wasn't wanted by their companions, the two restarted their chess game, Locryn smirking at his cousin as he won.

Tregereth huffed and began building a tower of Exploding Snap cards. Locryn settled back

watch and to wait and see Tregereth singe his eyebrows off.

Anastase and Decebal both stirred as a loud clatter filled the corridor, followed by an elderly woman opening the compartment door.

'Anything off the trolley dears?' she enquired with a dimpled smile.

'Yes, please', Locryn said, he looked at the other three, 'I don't know about you lot, but I get starving long before we get to Hogwarts.'

'That sounds like a good idea then', Anastase replied crisply, 'I don't know what's on there so just choose for me.'

'Me too please', Tregereth added.

'I'll have some Pumpkin Pasties', Decebal finished.

'Okay then', Locryn turned back to the woman, 'We'll have eight Pumpkin Pasties, as many Cauldron Cakes, a dozen Chocolate Frogs, and some Liquorish wands.'

He handed over seven Sickles in payment, before tipping the food onto the seat.

He ripped open one of the Cauldron Cakes and started to eat, 'Go on everyone! Take whatever you want. We're not at home anymore.'

Anastase blinked before taking a Liquorish Wand, 'This is quite nice isn't it?' he commented as he bit into it.

'Yeah, but it doesn't fill you up the same as proper food', Locryn sighed. 'That's why I got so much. I guaranty that your stomach will be digesting itself by the time we get to the school.'

'Ugh!' Tregereth exclaimed, 'Do you have to be so revolting? I'm trying to eat!'

As they tore through their pile, Anastase started drilling Decebal on what kinds of things he would be learning in first year.

'So, are we stuck doing the basics? That seems a bit unfair considering that many children from Wizarding families, like me, may already know all the theory! Everything that was in those textbooks I had learned ages ago.'

Decebal grinned, 'Might be unfair to you, but most people don't bother learning that stuff. I certainly didn't!'

Anastase sniffed if some people hadn't bothered to read a single textbook before stepping on the train that wasn't his problem! Why should a school like Hogwarts, with a world-class reputation, cater to the lazy? It was understandable for Muggle-borns of course, they couldn't help not being brought up around magic, but those with magical parents…well, maybe that was his own unconventional upbringing speaking, but not knowing the theory of magic seemed so incredibly stupid to Anastase that it was almost inconceivable.

'I wouldn't worry about not learning anything though', Decebal reassured him, 'The practical aspect is the hardest part. You can read the book until you're blue in the face, but it won't make you any better at turning a beetle into a button.'

Tregereth let out a muffled wail, 'You don't need to worry about anything, Anastase! You already know it all, you just need practice. But me! I don't know anything, I'll be the worst in the whole year!'

'No, you won't', Locryn sighed, 'I was scared too but really you'll be fine. Trust me.'

Their conversation was interrupted when the compartment door slid open. A bushy haired girl wearing Hogwarts robes, and a plump tearful looking boy stood in the doorway.

'Have any of you seen a toad? Neville's lost one', the girl had a posh, bossy voice and over large front teeth that put Anastase in mind of a hamster.

'No, we haven't', Decebal replied politely, 'Perhaps try the prefects' compartment? They might be able to help you.'

The girl blinked, 'Oh, thank you. I hadn't thought of that.'

She dashed off, dragging the boy with her.

No sooner had they left, than the door opened again. This time it was a pair of giggling older students.

'Have you guys heard?' one of the girls gushed.

'No', Anastase barked irritated, 'We haven't, and we don't want to!'

'Alright keep your hair on!' the second girl rolled her eye, 'You do realise that Harry Potter, is just down the corridor?'

'No, we didn't Flora', Locryn said, 'But as Anastase said, we're not particularly interested in knowing. We'll soon know all about him when we're at Hogwarts.'

Still laughing the girls moved on.

Tregereth's stomach rumbled making him jump.

Decebal glanced out of the window, Anastase followed his gaze. Dusk was falling over mountains and forests outside the train.

'We should change into our robes now', Decebal said, 'We're almost there.'

'Told you that you'd be hungry when we got here', Locryn lightly poked his cousin in the ribs.

They all took off their Muggle clothing and pulled the long black robes on over their heads. As they were putting the Muggle ware back into their trunks a voice echoed through the train: 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.'

Anastase met Tregereth's eye and smiled. They were almost there.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The train slowly ground to a halt, as the boys' stepped into the corridor to join the crowded throng.

People started making their way out of the doors onto a small dark platform. Anastase shivered as he left the cosy interior of the carriage. The chill night air was freezing. A lamp bobbed its way towards the students and a loud voice rang out over their heads: 'Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!'

Anastase and Tregereth waved to Decebal and Locryn as they hurried over to the owner of the voice. The speaker was an extremely tall and hairy man who, Anastase suspected, might be part giant.

'All right there, Harry?' the man beamed at a small dark-haired boy wearing glasses.

So that was the famous Harry Potter, Anastase observed the Boy-Who-Lives carefully. The way he had his head down, as if he wanted to vanish, heavily implied that he was uncomfortable with his fame. That was probably a good thing, he mused, at the very least Potter wouldn't be a total brat that wanted them all to worship him!

He was shaken out of his speculations by further bellows, 'C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!'

Honestly, had the man never heard of vocal control? Anastase grumbled to himself as he slipped and fumbled his way down a steep, narrow pathway. Tregereth clung to his arm like a particularly pernicious snail. If either of them fell, Anastase thought, the other would go tumbling down as well. The group moved in silence apart from the occasional sniffling, they were all too busy concentrating on not falling and breaking their necks before they even got to Hogwarts to chat!

'Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here', now Anastase could see where the man's loud tones came into use.

He gasped as he saw his first view of Hogwarts. The narrow path the first years had been walking along opened up to a stunning vista of the castle across a vast lake. Perched on a mountain on the other side, windows sparkling in the dark, many towers and turrets piercing the sky, Hogwarts looked like the home of his Greek ancestors' gods. Terrible and beautiful, not a place that mere mortals should venture to, but not quite. Hogwarts had an aura of light around it, that radiated warmth and welcoming. Anastase was breathless, it was a far cry from the cold detachment that was all the Atarescu home projected.

A fleet of small boats sat in the water at the edge of the black lake. The large man waved the students towards them, 'No more'n four to a boat!' he called, pointing to them sternly.

Anastase and Tregereth got into their boat together and were followed by a haughty looking dark-skinned boy and a pretty Asian girl.

The part giant had a boat to himself Anastase noted. Even then he barely fit.

'Everyone in?' the man shouted looking around to check, 'Right then – FORWARD!'

At the command, the little boats took off across the mirror sheen surface of the lake. There was a hush over them as all the first years stared up at the castle looming above them with awe. As they moved towards the cliff on which it stood it became more imposing, towering over them all.

'We're heading right for the cliffs!' Tregereth sounded alarmed as the boats rushed across the water.

'I'm sure we'll be-'

'Heads down!' Anastase cut himself off at the man's yell and ducked.

He stared up at the underside of the cliff as they passed through a curtain of ivy that hid a gap in the cliff face. They were carried into a dark tunnel that led under the castle to an underground harbour. Anastase scrambled out of the boat onto a small rocky beach.

'See, I told you', he murmured to Tregereth, 'They're not going to try and kill the first years.'

Tregereth grinned sheepishly, 'Oh, is that a toad?' He pointed to the amphibian where it sat in one of the boats.

'Err, sir', Anastase turned to look at the large man, who was now inspecting the boats, 'There's a toad here. One of the boys lost theirs.'

The man peered at it before raising his head, 'Oy, you there! Is this your toad?'

'Trevor!' the plump boy shouted, eagerly holding out his hands.

Anastase carefully hid his smile, he'd never seen anybody get so excited at the sight of a toad before.

The first years trooped up a passageway in the rock, coming out on a lawn in the shadow of the castle. Anastase heard Tregereth take a deep, gasping breath of the cool night air, and glanced back at him. The other boy was had thumped down on wet grass and was trembling.

'Are you alright?' Anastase hissed lowly, 'Do I need to call the half-giant back?'

'Don't be so rude!' Tregereth scolded, 'And I'm fine. I get claustrophobic sometimes, and that passage wasn't nice.'

He pushed himself upright and took Anastase's hand, 'Come on or we'll be left behind.'

'It's not rude if it's true!', Anastase protested, 'He is part giant, couldn't you tell?'

'Oh', Tregereth sounded embarrassed, 'No, I couldn't.'

They made their way a flight of stairs and joined the crowd waiting in front of an enormous door.

'Everyone here?' the man asked, 'You there, still got yer toad?'

He turned back to the door, raised a fist and pounded on it.

The door opened immediately. A tall, black-haired witch with a stern face and green robes was waiting for them inside.

'The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall', the man introduced them with a wave of his hand.

Anastase looked at the woman curiously, McGonagall was the Deputy Headmistress who had sent the acceptance letters out and Decebal's Head of House.

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here', Professor McGonagall replied briskly, pulling the door open. The Entrance Hall behind her was enormous. Flaming torches lined the walls and a great, marble staircase led up to the higher floors.

The huddled group of first years made their way across the room, after the Professor. Anastase could hear a low buzzing from one of the rooms off the Entrance Hall, obviously the rest of the school had already arrived and was waiting for them. Professor McGonagall led the first years into a small chamber to the left of the hall and they crowed together. Anastase stepped back slightly, not wanting to be squashed. He could feel the tension and nervousness hanging in the air.

'Welcome to Hogwarts', Professor McGonagall began, 'The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room.'

Anastase felt his eyes start to glaze over as Professor McGonagall explained all about the different houses, and how wonderful they were. Tregereth noticed and gave him a subtle kick. Anastase gasped in pain at the blow and tried to refocus, eyes watering slightly.

'-your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.'

No problem, Anastase thought wryly, so long as his actual family house didn't decide to break any more laws. In which case he'd have far bigger problems than detention or house points.

'The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school.'

Was she still droning on?

'I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting', Professor McGonagall's flickered over the toad boy's cloak, which he seemed to have fastened under his ear, and on a redhaired boy's nose, which was smeared with dirt. Beside the redhead, stood Harry Potter, who smoothed down his hair looking nervous. Not someone who thought he always looked perfect then, Anastase mentally smirked, in fact for such a celebrity he seemed to lack a huge amount of confidence.

I shall return when we are ready for you', Professor McGonagall informed them, 'Please wait quietly.'

She proceeded to sweep out of the chamber back into the hall.

Tregereth turned to Anastase, 'Do you know how we're sorted into our houses? I asked Locryn, but he refused to tell me. He said it was a secret and that it was a tradition for first years not to know!'

'No, sorry', Anastase laughed, 'I think my twin brothers managed to wheedle it out of Decebal, but they stayed Mum about it too! It can't be anything dangerous though because they would have told me that.'

Around them, Anastase could here other students making wild theories, the redhead next to Potter was saying something about it being painful while a stumpy looking girl a few feet in front was bragging about her pure blood. Anastase scoffed at that, Hogwarts was well known for being liberal about blood status, not to mention Albus Dumbledore, the Director – no, Headmaster! He had to remember to use the English for that – was a champion for Muggle-born rights, he would never let the test that sorted students be affected by such things in the slightest. Well, at least he could count out one potential Ravenclaw right there.

The bushy haired girl, who had accompanied Neville on his toad finding mission, was babbling to herself about all the spells she had learned, Anastase felt like telling her that reading her course books wasn't some grand achievement.

A loud scream behind him, broke off this train of thought, especially when Tregereth leapt in shock and landed on his foot.

Anastase whirled around and gasped, 'Oh! Ghosts!'

A group of nearly two dozen spectres had floated through the back wall. They were talking to each other as they made their way across the room, taking no notice of the gawping first years. Their pearly grey forms utterly serene amidst the panic.

Or…not quite totally serene, Anastase noted, they appeared to be arguing.

A fat man, dressed like one of those Muggle religious men, what were they called? Ah, a monk, that was it!, was saying, 'Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-'

'My dear Friar', a ghost dressed in an Elizabethan style neck ruff and tights, seemed to object, 'Haven't we all given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?'

Anastase snorted, at the Elizabethan ghost's overly dramatic show of suddenly seeing the first years. They probably did this every year, trying to scare people.

Either way, nobody seemed to be inclined to answer his question, maybe the show had worked too well this year?

New students!' the Fat Friar answered his fellow ghost's query, and smiled down at them benevolently, 'About to be sorted, I suppose?'

A few people did nod in response this time, apparently more at ease now.

'Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!' the Friar said cheerfully, 'My old house, you know!'

Hufflepuff was the one house Anastase didn't think he'd get into, not because he didn't want to, being hardworking was never a bad thing, but rather because of the loyalty bit. Anastase had a feeling that he was far too self-centred for any amount of loyalty to his brothers to win out.

A sharp voice cut through his hearing, 'Move along now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start.'

Professor McGonagall had re-entered the chamber, under her firm gaze the ghosts retreated back through the wall.

'Now, form a line and follow me', she directed them.

Anastase took a place at the front of the queue, with a name like Atarescu he'd be one of the first called provided they went alphabetical. Tregereth stuck to him like a particularly tenacious limpet, clinging to his robes.

'You get very nervous don't you?' he whispered.

'Yes', Tregereth whimpered, 'I don't like tests! You're the only person I know!'

Anastase rolled his eyes, they didn't even know they'd be in the same house for Moşul's sake! Tregereth would have to grow a backbone and learn to have confidence in himself.

Professor McGonagall led them out of the side chamber, back through the Entrance Hall, and then pushed open a pair of double doors to pass into the Great Hall.

Even Anastase could stop himself from staring, just a little. The huge room was lit by thousands of floating candles that drifted over the tables, where the older students were sitting. Golden plates and goblets lined the tables, but Anastase saw, they were all empty, they must have to wait until the first years were sorted before eating.

Professor McGonagall lined them up at the top of the hall, in front of the table where the teachers were sitting. Anastase looked out at the sea of faces that filled the hall. He could see the ghosts interspersed with the students, and Decebal sitting at the Gryffindor table. He was alone, shunning the company of his housemates, yet another reason to hate his family, Anastase thought grimly.

The Muggle-born suddenly hissed in his ear, 'It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History.'

Anastase went wide-eyed as he tried to work out what she was on about, before following her gaze upwards. As she, and Hogwarts: A History, had said, the ceiling of the Great Hall was a pure black night sky, complete with stars dotting it in constellations. It was almost hard to believe that the Great Hall wasn't simply open to the actual sky, but the lack of a cold breeze and a slight haze around the edge of the enchantment belied the reality of a ceiling.

Anastase looked down again just in time to see Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of them. She then placed a pointed hat atop it. It was extremely tattered looking in Anastase's opinion but if she'd put it out, then there must be more to it than caught the eye.

He tilted his head in consideration, what was it going to do? If the intense looks of all of the older students were any indication then something was about to happen.

Dead silence filled the hall, Then the hat moved. A rip in the brim opened like a mouth and then it started singing:

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

The Hall burst into applause as the Hat finished its song. It proceeded to bow to each of the tables before going still once more.

'A Hat!' Tregereth moaned, 'I was terrified for a Hat! I'll kill Locryn!'

Anastase could hear similar sentiments being voiced by other first years, as they grumbled about their older siblings' secrecy.

Trying on a hat was a lot easier than he'd thought it would be, but in hindsight it made sense. It wasn't really a test because that implied that there would be a mark or grade. What the houses were wasn't a reflection of how good you were, but rather of your personality.

The song had further impressed to Anastase that he would be going to Ravenclaw or Slytherin, a ready mind and learning was definitely him, and he already knew he had cunning and ruthlessness, being just or chivalrous on the other hand… not so much.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment, 'When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted.'

'Abbot, Hannah', a pink-faced girl with pigtails scuttled forward and pulled the hat on.

'HUFFLEPUFF!' the hat shouted.

The rightmost table clapped as Hannah went to join them. The Fat Friar waved.

'Atarescu, Anastase', only the second name called, it must be a small year.

Anastase walked forward and sat on the stool. The hat dropped over his eyes.

A small voice sounded in his head, 'Clever, intelligent, oh so sly. Very ruthless, loyal to a cause, and brave. On the surface hard to sort but I see that you would not do well in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor.'

Anastase felt a pang of surprise, Decebal was in Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff was the only one he'd thought himself unsuited for.

'Right you are', the hat muttered, 'You'd eat the badgers alive, but Gryffindor is far too righteous for you. Slytherin…hmm, perhaps but I feel RAVENCLAW is your best bet!'

Anastase winced at the deafening shout. Jumping off the stool he made his way towards the first table on his left.

He settled down to watch the rest of the sorting's: Bones, Susan – HUFFLEPUFF, Boot, Terry and Brocklehurst, Mandy both joined him in Ravenclaw and Anastase clapped enthusiastically.

'Brown, Lavender' – 'GRYFFINDOR!', 'Bulstrode, Millicent' – 'SLYTHERIN!'

Michael Corner, Stephen Cornfoot, Vincent Crabbe, Tracey Davis, Fay Dunbar, Kevin Entwhistle, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Seamus Finnigan, Anthony Goldstein, Gregory Goyle. Hermione Granger(the bushy-haired Muggle-born), Daphne Greengrass, Wayne Hopkins, Megan Jones, Sue Li(the Asian girl Anastase had shared a boat with) Neville Longbottom(the toad boy), Morag MacDougal, Ernest Macmillan, Draco Malfoy, Roger Malone, Lily Moon, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, Padma and Parvati Patil(twins, Anastase was shocked that they ended up in different houses, they didn't seem too surprised but he couldn't imagine Kronid or Liniște's response to that happening with them!), Sally-Anne Perks , Harry Potter(the Boy-Who-Lived unsurprisingly went straight to Gryffindor), Oliver Rivers, Sophie Roper, Dean Thomas.

The list of fellow first years blended together in his head and he shook himself. Tregereth was about to be sorted.

'Trelawney, Tregereth'

The pale boy stumbled forward and sat down. He waited for a minute before the hat shouted – 'RAVENCLAW!'

He leapt up immediately and rushed over to sit next to Anastase, 'I was so terrified', he confided lowly.

Lisa Turpin, Ronald Weasley, and finally Blaise Zabini(the haughty black boy, who had been the final member of Anastase's boat) were sorted after him.

'Oh, thank Moşel! It's over', Anastase murmured, 'I was seriously considering falling asleep sitting here.'

'It wasn't that bad surely?' Anthony Goldstein had leaned over to talk to them.

'Longbottom running off with the hat was rather funny, but I feel as if I lost a few brain cells sitting here', Anastase responded flatly, 'Tregereth, do you know when the food's served?'

Anastase knew full well that Tregereth didn't have a clue, he just wanted to shut Goldstein up. The other boy had clearly realised this, as he jerked back, looking offended.

Tregereth raised his eyebrows in surprise, 'That was very unfriendly of you.'

'Yes, I am aware', Anastase's tone was acerbic.

Tregereth was cut off from replying as Albus Dumbledore rose to his feet at the head table. He was smiling broadly at the room, arms open as if he wished to give all the students a hug.

'Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words.'

'It's not like anyone's going to say to him, no you can't', Anastase snarked in Tregereth's ear. The blond frowned at the other boy's sudden hostility.

'And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!' Professor Dumbledore sat back down with these final words.

Tregereth continued to stare at Anastase as he sneered, 'I can think of someone the words "nitwit" and "oddment" work for!' ignoring the applause of the rest of the hall.

'What is wrong with you?! You were being perfectly pleasant until I sat down, have I done something wrong?' he demanded. Anastase's behaviour had done a complete flip from thirty minutes previously.

'Nothing is wrong with me!' Anastase shot back, eye blazing, 'And you haven't done anything!'

He grabbed his fork and started slamming bits of meat and vegetables onto his plate as if they had committed a grievous crime against him.

Tregereth shook his head feeling slightly dazed, he hadn't even noticed the food appearing, he'd been so wrapped up by Anastase's sudden grumpiness.

'Anastase, you're not at home anymore. No one's going to judge you if you want to say something', Tregereth began, 'Your mother was awful to you but I'm not her! Please just talk to me!'

Anastase glared at him for a moment, 'I just didn't want to talk to Goldstein that's all.'

'Why did you get angry at me then?' Tregereth asked, 'I'm not trying to have a go at you, I'm genuinely confused!'

'You didn't have to make condescending comments about how socially inept I am', Anastase snapped, 'And if you're on about my disparaging of Dumbledore, well, for somebody who's supposedly wise, he seems to have missed my cousin, who is a third year, being emotionally abused and stunted!'

'Oh, Anastase', Tregereth sighed, 'I didn't mean it like that! I was just saying that you were a bit, err, harsh on him. I think, he thought that you were angry at him. As for Dumbledore not seeing the signs with your cousin…he didn't exactly go to anyone wondering did he? Decebal, I mean. He thought everything was normal, and I guess he seemed happy as he was. Headmaster Dumbledore isn't perfect, remember, and being wise is different to being all knowing.'

Anastase cocked his head to one side, 'You're a lot smarter than you act, aren't you?'

'I am a Ravenclaw', Tregereth pointed out.

Anastase shoved his arm, 'If you're that clever than you should know to eat as well!'

Tregereth laughed at him, as Anastase pilled a heap of potatoes, beef, carrots, and lamb onto his plate.

Tregereth turned to the dark-haired boy on his left side, 'Hello, I'm Tregereth. Who's the ghost down at the end of the table?'

He was looking at the silvery form of a young woman who was standing at the end to the table.

The boy broke off his conversation with Goldstein and another boy, Boot, Tregereth thought, and looked around at him, 'Finally decided to talk then? I'm Michael, and this is Terry, you already know Anthony.'

Tregereth nodded, 'I am sorry about Anastase, he can be a bit temperamental. I only met him on the train and I can already tell!'

Terry Boot smiled, 'Maybe we can start over eh?' he gave Goldstein a surreptitious kick.

'Ow, yeah, sure', Goldstein spluttered.

Anastase looked at them coolly, 'If you want', he shrugged, 'I'm not bothered to be honest, but Tregereth asked you a question. Who's the ghost?'

Boot's smile faded swiftly, 'I don't know who the ghost is. I'd ask an older student, but I'd be more polite than you! Merlin, Anthony, he is rude!'

Tregereth swung back to Anastase exasperated, 'What was that?! It's like your deliberately trying to make them hate you!'

Anastase grabbed his arm, 'Keep your voice down, I am trying to keep them away from us. I might be annoyed at Dumbledore and the rest of the professors for not noticing Decebal, but now it's come in handy. Or have you forgotten everything we told you? We, Decebal, myself and our siblings, are all in danger because of our crazy family! Keeping other people out of it is for their own good!'

Tregereth fell silent, utterly mortified. He couldn't believe that such a thing had slipped his mind. He busied himself with his food, avoiding Anastase's sharp eyes until the main course of the banquet faded away and was replaced by dessert.

'Want an apple pie?' Anastase's sugary sweet voice yanked Tregereth out of his embarrassment.

'What's with the voice?' he asked suspiciously.

'Oh, nothing', Anastase said normally, 'I was trying to apologise for being insensitive. I just recalled Decebal telling me that the twins and I sometimes forgot that other people aren't as thick skinned.'

'Thanks, but no need for weird accents, it makes you sound wrong', Tregereth shivered, 'I don't like that, people being wrong.'

'Well, that's what putting on an accent's for but fine. If you don't like it, it's not necessary, though if that's the case you don't seem bothered by my normal accent. I mean it's not British, it's Romanian mostly.'

'It's your accent though', Tregereth explained, 'It's how you sound. When people put "funny" voices and accents on, then it sounds off. You don't sound like you.'

'Okay', Anastase blinked, 'I didn't realise that it was a…sensitive topic for you?'

Tregereth didn't reply.

As the pair picked through their desserts the other Ravenclaw boys tried to draw them into conversation again.

'I'm a half-blood', Goldstein said, 'Dad's a half-blood too, and Mum's muggle-born. What about you lot?'

'Pureblood', Terry Boot sounded glum at that, 'Not according to the Directory because we don't disown everyone who marries anyone with a drop of Muggle blood, but technically I, and my parents are still Pureblood.'

'I'm a half-blood too, 'Michael Corner chimed in, 'Other way round from you though Anthony. Mum's a pureblood, while Dad's a Muggle.'

'What about you?' Boot enquired to Anastase and Tregereth.

'Half-blood', Tregereth chirped, 'Mum's a witch, she's up there on the teacher's table actually. Professor Trelawney, she teaches Divination. Dad was a Muggle, but he doesn't live with us anymore. They got divorced after a bit of an incident, shall we say.'

He nudged Anastase, 'What about you? I presume you're a Pureblood from what you and Decebal said?'

Anastase nodded, apparently condescending to answer, 'Yes, the Atarescu and Grecueanu families are very old Pureblood lines. They're not on your directory of course because our grandparents only came to Britain in the 1940s during the War.'

'What war? Can't have been You-Know-Who that far back', Corner asked.

'No, not that war', Anastase stated firmly, 'Grindelwald's War. My family's Romanian, and we got badly affected by his rampage across Europe.'

The conversation died a natural death after this proclamation, and the other boys turned back to the girls.

Tregereth followed what they were saying and realised they were debating how much they'd prepared for classes over the summer.

He glanced at Anastase and thought of the huge old book he'd been reading on the train, 'So, have you memorised everything in the course books yet?'

Anastase tossed his head and grinned, 'The one area where being kept locked up by your Mamă is good, is that we either read or went mad. I already knew most of the content ages ago. I spent the summer learning new stuff and-' he dropped his voice, 'Worrying about family matters.'

'Right…', Tregereth felt his mouth dry up at the further reminder of his new friend's circumstances.

As they sat in awkward silence the puddings vanished and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. They both looked up as the Hall fell quite.

'Ahem – just a few words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.'

The Headmaster sent a significant look in the direction of the Gryffindor table.

'I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.'

'So', Virage turned to look at Tregereth, 'All I got from that is that if you do want a painful death, you should go there. Think Decebal and I could lure Camil here?'

Tregereth snorted, 'If only it was that easy! I feel like you're in for a long slog with him.'

'Me too', Anastase sighed.

'And now', Dumbledore suddenly cried, 'Before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!'

Anastase couldn't help but notice that the rest of the teachers' expressions had become rather strained, oh dear, how corny was it?

The Headmaster drew his wand and gave it a brisk flick. A long golden ribbon flew out, levitated itself over the tables, and turned into lyrics.

'Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go!' Dumbledore sounded delighted.

Anastase cringed in horror, had Decebal had to do this?

'Go on', Tregereth giggled, 'It's not that bad.'

Anastase tried not to die in embarrassment as he joined in the bellow of:

'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald,

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling,

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.'

Due to everyone picking a different tune, they all finished at different times. Anastase winced at the discordance. Dumbledore conducted the last two people singing, a pair of Gryffindors, with his wand, and clapped loudly when they were done.

'Ah, music', he wiped his eyes gaily, 'A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!'


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The Hall filled with movement as students rose from the tables at Dumbledore's dismissal. Chattering crowds flooding from the room.

Tregereth seized his arm to avoid losing him in the hustle.

'First-years follow me!' an older boy called out over the din, 'I'm Robert Hilliard, the fifth-year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, myself and Penelope Clearwater will guide you to your dormitories in Ravenclaw Tower.'

Leaving the Great Hall, and heading up the Grand Staircase, Anastase quickly became hopelessly lost as he tried to recall all the twists and turns, the many corridors Hilliard lead them along, and the uncountable lesser staircases they climbed. As they walked Anastase could hear the portraits whispering to each other about the new first-years as they passed.

He paused for a second before speaking to one of them, a young man with dark hair and pale eyes, 'Hello.'

The portrait blinked, 'Not very common for one of you lot to talk to us.'

'If by "you lot" you mean students I don't suppose it is very common', Anastase replied, 'I was wondering if you would be able to help myself and my friend, Tregereth, find our way around the castle for the next few weeks. It's very confusing you see, and I already feel lost!'

The young man smiled, 'Of course, I will be waiting for you and your friend tomorrow when you leave the tower.'

Anastase nodded, 'My name's Anastase, by the way, and I'd better hurry or I'll be left behind!'

'Very pleasant meeting you Anastase', the portrait responded, 'You may call me Velius.'

Anastase rushed after the rest of the students, grabbing Tregereth's arm as he caught up.

'Where were you?' Tregereth asked, 'One minute you were right next to me, the next you'd up and vanished!'

'I was acquiring us a castle guide for the next for weeks', Anastase explained, 'I'm already confused with all the corridors and stairs, so I thought asking one of the paintings for help might be a good idea.'

'Yes, that's brilliant', Tregereth exclaimed, 'I can't believe I didn't think of that.'

Anastase stared upwards as they entered one of the towers, a great spiral staircase rising into the gloom. They climbed in tight circles to dizzying heights, Anastase shuddered slightly as he looked down, tripping on these stairs could be fatal.

So plain and ordinary was the door to the common room, that Anastase hadn't even realised they'd reached it. It was a blank expanse of aged wood, with not even a keyhole or handle to mark it. Instead, there was a single bronze knocker, cast into the likeness of an eagle.

The female Prefect, Clearwater, reached out and tapped briskly.

The eagle's beak opened, and a musical voice spoke: 'What disappears as soon as you say its name?'

Hilliard grinned at them, 'This is how you get into the common room, rap on the door and the eagle will ask you a question, if you can answer it, you will be let in. Now, I know that some first-years can be scared by having to answer the eagle's questions, but don't worry. You'll learn quickly, and you'll soon enjoy the challenges the door sets. I must stress the fact that it's not unusual to find twenty-odd people standing outside the common room door, all trying to work out the answer to the day's question together, so don't be ashamed if you get stuck. This can be a great way to meet fellow Ravenclaws from other years, and to learn from them – although it is a bit annoying if you've forgotten a class book or something and need to get in and out in a hurry. So for that reason, I'd advise you to triple-check your bag for everything you need before leaving Ravenclaw Tower.'

'So now that Robert's had his spiel', Clearwater said dryly, 'Would anyone like to have a guess what the answer is?'

Silence for a minute, as if they all wanted someone else to speak first. Disappears when you say its name? Anastase mentally scratched his head as he tried to work it out.

Tregereth mouthed something to himself, before stepping forward, 'I think I know.'

'Go on', Clearwater encouraged.

'It's silence. If you say it, then you break it', Tregereth explained.

'Well-reasoned', the musical voice said.

The door swung open.

The Ravenclaw common room was a wide, airy, circular room. Large, graceful arched windows lined the walls, which were hung with blue and bronze silk. Anastase glanced up and saw that the ceiling was domed and decorated with stars, the night sky theme was continued by the midnight-blue colour of the carpets. There were tables, chairs and bookcases, everything Anastase could imagine for a good study area.

In a niche opposite the door stood a tall statue of white marble. The woman depicted by the stone was beautiful yet rather austere and intimidating looking, Anastase thought. He went over and looked at it, she almost seemed to smile at him quizzically. A delicate tiara rested on her head, there were words engraved into it.

'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure', Anastase quoted, 'Ravenclaw's lost diadem.'

'Excellent, so you know the myth then?' Hilliard asked.

'That it was stolen?' Anastase inquired, 'Yes, but there is no proof if it truly was.'

'Indeed, now before we usher you off to bed, I'm just going to say a few things', Hilliard had the air of someone about to begin a lecture, 'Ravenclaw has a reputation for being "the clever ones" which we all know can put a lot of pressure on people to feel that they have to get straight Os to be a proper Ravenclaw.

This is not true.

Some of us are like that but one of the best things about Ravenclaw is that we are the most individual house, some might even call certain members eccentrics. But geniuses are often out of step with everyone else and that's what makes them special. Unlike some other houses, we all think that you have the right to wear what you like, believe what you want, and say what you feel. We don't shun people who march to a different tune; on the contrary, we value them!

If you do have any problem Professor Flitwick, our Head of House, always has his office door open for us.

Ravenclaw house has an illustrious history that includes many great, and strange witches and wizards, such as Perpetua Fancourt, the inventor of the lunascope, Laverne de Montmorency, a great pioneer of love potions, and Ignatia Wildsmith, the inventor of Floo powder.

Famous Ravenclaw Ministers for Magic include Millicent Bagnold, who was in power on the night that Harry Potter survived the Dark Lord's curse, and defended the wizarding celebrations all over Britain with the words, 'I assert our inalienable right to party.

There was also Minister Lorcan McLaird, who was a quite brilliant wizard but preferred to communicate by puffing smoke out of the end of his wand and we are also the house that gave the wizarding world Uric the Oddball, who used a jellyfish for a hat.

From that list alone you can see the great variety of people who have passed through this house.

As for our relationship with the other three houses: well, my guess is if you're from a wizarding family you've already heard about the Slytherins. They're not all bad, but it does pay to be cautious until you know them well. They have a long house tradition of doing whatever it takes to win so it's best to keep an eye out especially in Quidditch matches and exams.

The Gryffindors are okay but they tend to be show-offs and they're much less tolerant of people who are different; in fact, they've been known to make jokes about Ravenclaws because they simply haven't got our intellectual curiosity.

As for the Hufflepuffs, well, nobody could say they're not nice people. In fact, they're some of the nicest people in the school. Let's just say you needn't worry too much about them when it comes to competition at exam time.

I think that's nearly everything. One final word is our house ghost: the Grey Lady. The rest of the school thinks she never speaks, but she does talk to Ravenclaws. She can be helpful if you've gotten lost, or if you've mislaid something.

Now, our dormitories are in turrets off the main tower.'

Anastase sagged with relief as Hilliard finally came to the end of his epic.

'Boys first floor, on the left. Girls, same to your right. Our four-poster beds are covered in sky blue silk eiderdowns and the sound of the wind whistling around the windows is very relaxing, or I find it so anyway. Goodnight!'

Anastase honestly didn't care if the beds were covered in silk or bin liners, he was that tired, Moşul could Hilliard talk!

As he hurried up the stairs along with his new housemates, he heard Clearwater speak, 'I think they registered about two words of that whole thing Robert, and that was "Good Night"! I told you not to talk their ears off', she groaned, 'You never know when to just shut up.'

As Anastase staggered into the dormitory he saw that Hilliard had spoken the truth, the beds were hung with blue silk, in fact, the room rather looked as if it were floating in the sky. Pulling on his pyjamas he vaguely realised that his trunk had already been brought up, most likely by the Hogwarts house-elves.

Too tired to speak, much less start yet another argument, the other boys quickly flopped into their beds.

Tregereth came over and sat on the edge of Anastase's duvet, 'By Merlin, I hope we don't have to listen to him again anytime soon. What a natterer!', he paused and turned more serious, 'Anastase, I know you're worried, I'm scared about your family, but you're not at home anymore. You're at Hogwarts, and while you're here, you're safe. Your brothers might not be, but they can't even contact you here so as long as their smart, they won't get in any trouble. It's not a crime to make friends, even if you could be putting them in danger. Just think on it, okay?'

Anastase licked his lips, 'I know, but that doesn't change the reality of the situation. Why you and Locryn haven't already run to the professors I don't even know! Can I really trust that someone else won't?', he shook his head, 'I don't deny it, letting criminals, family or not, run lose is pure blind foolishness. Except…'

'Except when it's not because catching the obvious wrongdoers leaves the most dangerous person free and puts three children under his control', Tregereth finished, 'No matter how smart you all are, you are still children. And I can't disagree with you, so maybe it is better to keep ourselves to ourselves. As for why I didn't tell on you? There's something about you, something that I trust. I have very good instincts, and Locryn knows that. If I haven't panicked, then he won't.'

Anastase lay back on the bed, 'Good to know', he rolled over onto his stomach, 'Sweet dreams, Tregereth. Noapte bună!'

Tregereth got off the bed and headed to his own, 'I don't know what that means, Anastase, but I'll guess it's goodnight.'

Anastase immediately fell into a deep slumber, strange dreams passing through his sleeping mind like drifting shadows. He thought he woke in the middle of the night, to pitch-black air and eerie moaning, but swiftly returned to his dreams, and by morning it was nothing more than a faded memory.

Clawing himself to wakefulness the next day could only be described as a chore. Anastase blinked bits of gritty sleep out of his eyes and yawned as he made his way to the bathroom. At least, he thought staring in amusement at the unmoving lumps that were his housemates, he wasn't the only one who found the early morning following the late night, and lethargy-inducing speech, difficult.

Anastase was already out of the bathroom and getting dressed before the rest of the boys started stirring.

'How are you awake?' Tregereth croaked bleary-eyed. His white hair was standing on end, making him look like he'd been hit with a strong shock spell.

'Do you always get up so late?' Anastase replied by way of answer, 'It's 7 o'clock! Classes start at 9, so we'd all better hurry if we want to have breakfast!'

He began packing his bag as Tregereth ran to have a shower. Anastase was ready to go before Tregereth was finished so he headed down to the common room to wait for him.

In the light of day, Anastase saw that the large windows gave a spectacular view of the school grounds, including the lake, Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch, and Herbology gardens. He could see the sun rising from behind surrounding mountains.

'Wow', he muttered to himself, 'I didn't realise Hogwarts was so…picturesque.'

Now, that he was no longer drooping with tiredness Anastase took a good look at the place, there were a few portraits of famous Ravenclaws hung on the walls, among them were several of the people Hilliard had mentioned the night before; Ignatia Wildsmith, Millicent Bagnold, and Uric the Oddball. There was also a library just off the common room located in the niche behind Ravenclaw's statue, Anastase wondered what sort of books were in there, and if it meant that Ravenclaws didn't have to constantly hike between the tower and the library.

He was just contemplating going over to an older student to ask them about the small library when Tregereth hurtled down the stairs from the dorm.

'Be careful', Anastase half caught him, 'When I said to be quick, I didn't mean break your neck!'

'Umph, thanks Anastase', Tregereth said breathlessly, 'Now you wanted to get to breakfast if I recall correctly?'

Anastase lead the way down the spiral stairs with a pointed look at Tregereth, 'Good thing you didn't go head over heels down these isn't it?'

'No need to rub it in', his friend scowled.

When they reached the bottom they were greeted by a coolly polite voice, 'Good morning to you both.'

The pair spun around in surprise before Anastase registered the painting, 'Oh, hello Velius. Nice to see you again, you gave me a fright.'

'So I saw', the portrait responded, 'Now I believe you wanted me to serve as a guide? In any case, the Great Hall is this way.'

With those words, the young man turned and darted off through the paintings along the corridor.

Anastase and Tregereth shot each other an agreeing look before bolting after him.

'Would. You. Slow. Down?' Tregereth bawled at the painting's retreating back five minutes later.

Anastase running alongside him panted in concert. He was beginning to regret asking the portrait to help them now!

'Nonsense! We're almost there!' the overly cheerful reply made Anastase growl under his breath.

'We'd better be, or I'll find his painting and burn it!' Anastase spat venomously.

'I'd help you, and hide it from the professors', Tregereth agreed.

They then bowled straight into the Entrance Hall, tumbling from a dusty passageway.

'See, I told you', Velius informed them primly.

'Yes, that's us told isn't it?' Anastase snarled grumpily, 'Now go away. We won't need you until classes start.'

'I'm surprised you're not in Slytherin with a temper like that', Velius commented, 'Though I can see why you're not in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor, too much of a grudge-holder.'

With this dramatic parting, the painting flounced off.

'If I could cast the Fire-Making charm', Anastase growled.

Tregereth steered him into the Hall with a grin. Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, Anastase saw Decebal and Locryn. They sat at opposite sides of the room at their respective house's table.

Following his gaze, Tregereth saw them, 'They look a bit lonely', he commented, 'Why don't we call them over? I don't remember there being any rule about not having other houses over.'

'Okay', Anastase shrugged, 'At any rate, if we do it now, nobody will think it odd later in the year, because, inevitably, we're going to have to talk to each other. Even if it's not about my family.'

Tregereth nodded, 'We're relatives too, I'm sure the professors won't stop us from talking to family!'

With that decided Anastase made his way over to the Gryffindor table and plonked down next to his cousin, 'Tregereth says you look lonely and wants you to join us at the Ravenclaw table. He's also gone to pester Locryn to come over as well. If you're worried about what the professors will say, then Tregereth and I can just say that you're family, and we wanted to know what to expect in our first day!'

Decebal blinked, 'Sure, that's fine. Though McGonagall's face will be priceless when she sees me sitting with a Slytherin!'

Anastase laughed, 'Snape's face will be a picture too I imagine', he said.

'Oh, yes', Decebal closed his eyes, 'Remind me to keep a lookout, because I would cherish that memory forever.'

'What would you cherish?' Locryn asked as they all sat down again.

'Decebal wants to see the looks on Professors' Snape and McGonagall's faces when they see students from the rival houses sitting together – on the Ravenclaw table no less!' Anastase explained.

Locryn doubled over wheezing, 'I would pay to see that. Keep an eye out for them, would you? This cannot be missed!'

The first years shared a deeply concerned look with each other, obviously, their older cousins had suffered some sort of mental breakdown over the whole Atarescu situation.

'Do you think we can handle them ourselves, or do we need to go to the hospital wing?' Tregereth asked.

'Don't know', Anastase whispered, 'Watch them, and if they go violent, I'll help you knock them out?'

'Got it', Tregereth finished.

Decebal stared, 'What are the pair of you on about?'

'No idea', Anastase said sarcastically, 'Just wondering why you two have gone mad.'

'Wha-?' Locryn looked confused, 'I still don't know what you're on about.'

'Well, it's not very like you to get so excited about seeing someone's expression', Tregereth pointed out, 'You are acting a bit…well, loony. Sorry.'

Realisation dawned, 'You don't know the total extent of how much Slytherins and Gryffindors utterly detest each other do you?' Decebal stated, 'Don't get me wrong, we've both probably mentioned it to you, but we've always been unsocial ourselves. It's mostly the more stereotypical people that you see it in but…'

Locryn picked up the conversation, 'The fights can be truly epic. Duels in the corridors, sabotaging potions, curses before class – the works. Prank wars are huge, mainly due to the Weasley twins.'

Decebal snorted, 'Don't remind me. We're in the same year and share a dorm. It was horrific the first year, waking up to frogspawn in my sheets for days!' he shuddered, 'They learned to back off from me after I hexed them both in second year. You might remember that Anastase because you were the one who looked it up for me.'

Anastase gasped, 'So that was what the Jelly-Fingers Curse was for! I did wonder at the time what you wanted to do with it.'

Locryn stifled a snicker, 'You made your ten-year-old cousin look up spells for you when you had the entire Hogwarts library to choose from?'

Decebal drew his dignity around himself like a cloak, 'I was never good at research whereas Anastase excels at it. Why would I not take advantage of that fact?'

'And now', Locryn said, 'You sound like a Slytherin. No joke.'

Speaking of jokes', Tregereth interrupted, 'McGonagall's just walked in.'

They turned as one to view the Gryffindor head's reaction. The woman glanced around the hall as she entered, surveying the students, she paused on the Gryffindor table for a moment before continuing. Anastase could tell when she saw them instantly, her face froze for a second before she hastily blanked it. A more obvious way of saying that she was inwardly gaping, Anastase couldn't imagine.

'It's strange that the professors stress that the houses are all equal when they clearly don't practice what they say. The bias between Gryffindor and Slytherin is so clear that I could use it as a mirror' Anastase scoffed.

'They were all students themselves here', Locryn said, 'And that's half the problem. How can they be unbiased when they grew up with the same prejudices firmly in place? The answer: they can't. It's really as simple as that. There will never be total equality amongst the professors unless the current ones were all fired, and replaced by teachers from another school.'

'Which isn't going to happen in our lifetime', Decebal deadpanned.

Anastase and Tregereth both laughed.

'Oh, look', Anastase said and pointed, 'Snape's just come in too.'

Locryn shot a quick glance at his house head, before ducking away, 'He's worse than McGonagall, with the prejudices. If he kills me, please find my body.'

'Don't be so dramatic', Tregereth whacked him on the back of the head with a roll, 'I'm sure he's not that bad!'

Looking at Snape's rapidly reddening face and furious glare, Anastase wouldn't bet it on. Maybe not quite a literally kill you as soon as look at you type, a la Camil Atarescu, but still no one Anastase would want to get on the wrong side of.

'I wouldn't be so sure', Anastase dropped in, 'He doesn't look very happy, anyway.'

'No he doesn't', Decebal groaned, 'It's a good thing you two aren't in Gryffindor or I'm pretty sure he'd dissect you for potions ingredients for this!'

'Just what I need', Anastase quipped, 'Somebody else who wants me dead.'

Decebal took a deep breath, 'Let's not get into that now, not here. We'll worry about it closer to when we have to go back.'

'Christmas', Anastase agreed, 'Then we need to work out something. Remember the twins and Simu are still looking, they might have all the evidence we need by then.'

'Let's hope that!' Locryn exclaimed, 'I'm not even involved, and I'm scared for you. Living with a man like that…I would be terrified.'

'Moving on', Decebal tried to regain the original thread of the conversation, 'McGonagall and Snape baiting aside, the professors aren't that bad, are they?'

Locryn nodded thoughtfully, 'I was exaggerating a bit. Mostly they're fine, but I wasn't kidding about Snape being biased, he's one the exceptions.'

'Ah, hem.'

They all jumped at the sudden throat clearing behind them.

Professor McGonagall stood there, looking highly unamused and holding a pile of timetables.

'Mr Grecueanu, I wasn't aware that students could change houses', her tone was icy.

'Sorry, Professor', Decebal looked at his hands, 'Anastase's my cousin you see, and I just wanted to speak to him. We had a…bit of a family situation over the summer. It wasn't very pleasant.'

'I see', McGonagall looked a lot more understanding now. Clearly, Anastase thought, she had a soft spot in her, she just hid it very well.

'Now, here's your timetable Grecueanu. As you can see some of your classes clashed, so you have some free periods, but you'll lose time in the evening', McGonagall showed him.

Decebal nodded, 'Yes Professor, I understand.'

Locryn rose from the table, 'If they've started handing out timetables, I'd better get back to Slytherin.'

Anastase peered around the Hall, 'Okay, I wonder where Professor Flitwick is. I hope he arrives soon, or we won't know where to go!'

Tregereth snickered as Locryn and Decebal left, 'Anastase, you do realise that it's not even 8 yet? We, our cousins, and maybe', he spun around to look, 'Twenty other students, are the only ones down yet. Aside from the teachers I mean, and even they're not all here.'

'I get your point', Anastase huffed, 'I like to be well prepared though. There's nothing wrong with that!'

'No there isn't', Tregereth placated, 'Now, I was reading through Magical Theory the other day, and I noticed that it said that it was impossible to turn an animal into a human, but after doing some more in-depth research I found a study which stated that it was physically possible but giving an animal human intelligence wasn't. This got me thinking about, what makes a human, human? Is it our physical body or is it our mind? Adalbert Waffling seems to think the later, but I personally believe the former which would make Waffling's statement incorrect. What about you?'

Anastase took a deep breath as he launched into his own explanation, 'There are valid arguments for both sides but consider the fact that when we turn an inanimate object, let's say a cup, into an animal. It takes on some of the behaviours of that animal, and vice versa. What sort of behaviour does an animal that has been transfigured into a human have?'

'I believe in the study, they used a dog. It said that it didn't behave like a dog once it was transfigured but it also didn't act like an adult human either. I think the "dog" was like a child, very playful, ate a lot, slept', Tregereth shrugged, 'Sounds very dog like I know, but apparently, there was a big difference.'

Anastase hummed, 'I think that physically it is possible, no ifs, ands, or buts. However, I wouldn't say that it was a full transfiguration, simply because of the behaviour aspect. As for what makes humans human? Like I said, I'm on the fence because of precedent, does that fact that a cup can act like a mouse make it a mouse, of course not. So depending on your personal feelings, both of you are right.'

Tregereth nodded enthusiastically, buzzing with the energy of a good debate.

He wasn't the only thing buzzing, Anastase noted, while they'd been talking the Great Hall had filled with chattering students.

'Because I'm a nice person I'll ask again, now that we're not all tired, do you two want to be friends with us?' Terry Boot had sat down next to them and was now staring expectantly.

Tregereth paused, 'No offence Boot, but…well', he stopped and started again, 'Anastase was rude, no other way to say it, and I apologise for him, he isn't very social. I would normally love to get to know you all better, but there are a few…things going on in life at the moment. And making a load of friends really isn't on my list of priorities. Maybe next year, but not now. Sorry.'

Tregereth looked mortifies, Anastase gave Boot a flat look, Boot looked sympathetic.

'No need to be sorry', Corner butted in, 'If your private life needs to be sorted out then, of course, that's more important! Atarescu, you're hardly the only person in the world who's a bit abrupt but maybe try to tone it down a little, okay?'

Anastase smiled sweetly, 'I'll do my best, Corner', Tregereth winced as Anastase finished with an under the breath mutter of, 'To pull your intestines out via your nostrils.'

Oops, getting Anastase to plot murder hadn't been on the cards, and Tregereth thumped his head into his hands as Corner walked off oblivious to the death threat.

'Please, just make sure you won't get caught if you do decide to kill him', he pleaded.

'Don't fuss', Anastase replied coldly, 'I grew up with Kronid and Liniște, I never get caught.'

As they spoke an extremally short old man walked over to them, staggering under a heap of timetables.

'Professor Flitwick', Tregereth grabbed part of the stack to stabilise him.

'Oh thank you Mr Trelawney', Flitwick puffed, 'Ah, now here we are. First years! Take one each, both of you, unlike the upper years, all first-year Ravenclaws have the same schedule.'

Picking up the sheet, Anastase began to read over it, 'We've got Herbology first class. We're in Green House 1.'

'Then Defence Against the Dark Arts', Tregereth added, 'I'm quite looking forward to that, but the teacher, Professor Quirrell, he seemed very twitchy at the feast last night.'

Anastase frowned, 'I hope he's not a total coward. DADA is one of the few areas of magic where being headstrong and reckless will help you! Though we have to cover all the theory too, so perhaps it's not that bad if he is a bit, err, shaky.'

'No, I suppose not', Tregereth suddenly shook his head and laughed.

'What is it?' Anastase inquired.

'I just realised', Tregereth chuckled, 'We got down here at a quarter past 7, and we still haven't eaten anything! We've been too busy talking to each other. And you were so concerned about not eating!'

'Well I am now', Anastase yelped, 'But for a totally justified reason this time!'

Anastase snatched up a plate and piled it high with toast, scrambled egg, sausages, and slices of bacon. Tregereth watched in slight admiration as he began shovelling it down so fast it barely touched the sides.

'Slow down', Tregereth said worried, 'You'll make yourself sick, like this!'

Anastase grunted in disagreement through a mouthful of food, 'No I won't', he swallowed hard, 'I'll be fine, you should see the twins some mornings! Now that is fast eating.'

'Right, I think I'll stick with my more sedate pace', Tregereth murmured, 'If it's all the same to you!'

Anastase slowed down a bit as Tregereth got his own food. They ate in silence now, intent on actually eating rather than going off on a long tangent.

When they'd finished they ran back up to Ravenclaw Tower to grab their protective gloves and the books for the first three class periods.

As they dashed back down the spiral staircase, Anastase turned to Tregereth, 'It's almost hard to believe we're really here. We're at Hogwarts. It was always a landmark of growth in my family, I looked forward to it so much. But now I'm here…it's all been overshadowed by Camil and Luminița. I've grown up, but the past lingers.'

Tregereth met his eyes seriously, 'Focus on the here and now. It's the only way to live.'


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

The first week fairly flew by. Anastase was so busy and rushed off his feet that he barely had time to worry about anything except getting his homework done it time. That and finding his way to classes in the first place.

As Hogwarts: A History informed him, there were seven stories and one hundred and forty-two staircases in the building. This meant that even with the, sometimes irritable, aid of Velius there were more than enough ways to get unutterably lost and confused. There were trick steps that left you dangling through the floor if you trod on them, there were corridors that lead you somewhere else on certain days of the week, there were doors that you had to ask politely to open or tickly in just the right spot, and even doors that were really walls pretending to be doors. To make matters worse, you couldn't simply remember where everything was because it all liked to wander around. According to Velius, there was a pattern but Anastase had yet to find it.

Peeves the poltergeist didn't help either, while the rest of the castle ghosts were very helpful and even friendly, Peeves was easily worth getting stuck in a trick staircase if you were unlucky enough to bump into him. He would be perfectly happy to follow you for the rest of the day dropping bins on your head, pulling rugs from under your feet, pelting you with any bit of rubbish that came to hand, and, possibly the worst, sneaking up behind you invisible, grabbing you by the nose and bellowing, 'GOT YOUR CONK!', at the top of his lungs. Anastase discovered all this when Morag McDougal was late to class on Wednesday and ended up being sent back to the dorms for the day, by Flitwick, after she was chased around by Peeves for the first three classes and finally broke down in tears over it during the Charms class after he nearly set her books on fire with a candle.

Argus Filch, the school caretaker, was, in Anastase's opinion, a bitter, twisted old man who shouldn't be allowed within twenty feet of any child and coming from some who had a family like his, that was saying a lot. He was rather sadistic and delighted in doling out punishments whether they were deserved or not, Anastase had overheard him, the very first day, lamenting the fact that he was unable to use corporal punishment, and apparently, he'd been set to try and lock Potter and his red-haired friend in the dungeons for something before they'd even gotten to class!

If Anastase had been forced to pick his most hated thing at Hogwarts though, the prize would have to go to Mrs Norris. She was Filch's scrawny, dust-coloured cat. Like her master, she had bulging, lamp-like eyes and patrolled the corridors like an omen of death. If you put so much as a toe out of line, then she would immediately dash off in search of Filch, who would show up wheezing a few seconds later. According to Locryn, the only people who knew the secrets passages that lined the castle better than Filch were the Weasley twins, and the man could pop up as unexpectedly as any of the ghosts. Anastase was frankly shocked that he hadn't been sacked yet as the caretaker seemed universally hated by students, rival houses or no rival houses. It was, he later learned, the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs Norris a good kick, and a soft spot for animals or not, Anastase could not find it in himself to blame them in the slightest.

The lessons themselves weren't too bad. As Anastase had suspected he was ahead in most of the theory, and just needed to practice actually performing the spells. The most time-consuming part of the whole process was writing out all of the homework, sometimes knowing loads about a particular subject could work against you!

Herbology was one of the hardest subjects for Anastase because you could not learn how to handle plants by reading about it, so he was pretty much beginning from scratch there. Professor Sprout, the teacher, was a cheerful squat little witch with short, grey hair who almost always seemed to have a smile on her face and dirt on her clothes. If nothing else, Anastase thought, she was certainly very dedicated to her chosen field, not to mention she happily embodied all the best parts of the perfect Hufflepuff.

As he'd predicted, Defence Against the Dark Arts was a bit of joke. Professor Quirrell was scared of his own shadow and looked fit to collapse in fright every time someone asked a question, which as Tregereth had commented, might not be so bad in a class of, say. Gryffindors, but in a class of Ravenclaws it got rather ridicules. The classroom also stank of garlic which, rumour had it, was to ward off a vampire he'd met while on sabbatical in Romania. Anastase could only assume he'd really hacked said vampire off as he honestly could not think of any reason why a vampire would want to chase someone all the way from Romania, after all, it wasn't like the place was nearby! Decebal had informed them on Tuesday night, while they were having dinner, that Quirrell had told the Gryffindor first-years that his turban was a thank-you gift from an African prince for getting rid of a zombie. He also added that upon being questioned about this dramatic and dangerous feat of heroics Quirrell had blushed and started babbling about the weather. Personally, Anastase thought he'd be able to do a better job fighting off a zombie than the whimpering Quirrell, and Decebal's story had both of the Ravenclaws in stitches.

The most boring lesson was, as both Decebal and Locryn warned them, History of Magic. Anastase had to admit that he had underestimated Binns' soporific ability to put a class to sleep. He wasn't even sure if Binns was aware of anything anymore, including the fact that he himself was now dead. After all, he'd apparently died in the staff room and then just wandered in the next morning to teach without noticing that he was no longer living. Either way, he was certainly unaware of his students as they fell into two distinct categories: those who fell asleep, and those who pulled out homework for another subject or took out a history book to self-study. No matter what happened, Anastase was reasonably sure that nobody in Ravenclaw took down any of the notes that Binns laboriously readout.

Astronomy, which was held at midnight on a Wednesday, was possibly the easiest lesson that Anastase had between Professor Sinistra who was extremely nice and his own knowledge of the night sky.

Professor McGonagall, as benefited her position as Deputy Headmistress, was one of the strictest teachers at Hogwarts. The first thing she did when they entered the Transfiguration classroom was give them all a stern talk about the dangers involved and inform them that if they started acting up, then she would basically kick them out. Seeing as Transfiguration was one of the core classes Anastase wasn't sure how that would work out, but he had a feeling that if McGonagall wanted a student gone then they would be gotten rid of post-haste.

Charms, despite the fact that in some ways the magic performed could be more dangerous, was taught in a far more relaxed style. Although Anastase suspected, that was due to little Professor Flitwick being rather less intimidating than McGonagall. The tiny professor had to stand on a pile of books in order to see over his desk, and Anastase was pretty sure that Hagrid wasn't the only member of Hogwarts staff to have blood other than human running through his veins.

There was no way to describe Professor Snape other than completely and utterly terrifying. The Head of Slytherin House took perverse pleasure in scaring the wits off every student who crossed his path unless they were part of his own house. Decebal would quietly inform Anastase and Tregereth how glad they should be that they weren't Potter, Snape seemed to hold a grudge against him and had terrorised his first potions class. In spite of all this drama, it was in the dank, musty dungeon classroom, under Snape's cold black gaze that Anastase truly excelled. As his mother had noted over the summer, Anastase loved potions. Maybe not the ones prescribed in the textbook, but instead his own, often dangerous, inventions, like the modified Draft of Living Death that he'd fed to the twins several years previously.

All in all, Anastase's first week at Hogwarts was going very well. The only downside was his and Tregereth's social status. Or more accurately, their total lack of it. This wasn't precisely a bad thing, Anastase had to remind his friends, after all, they were doing their best to keep a tenuous and out of their control situation from entering the public eye. There was the big "but" of becoming Ravenclaws' pariahs hanging over them though. It was one thing to unsociable and keep themselves to themselves, it was another thing to be the total outcasts. Decebal had done the former for the past two years and caused not a single iota of gossip. Snappy weirdos who refused to communicate with anyone, on the other hand, would just attract more attention to them rather than less.

Anastase would freely admit that this unfavourable position was solely his fault, not the ever-smiling and friendly Tregereth who had done his best to smooth over Anastase's prickliness to no avail. Despite the understanding that had been reached on Monday morning, Anastase had managed to aggravate even the most sympathetic of their dorm mates, who had gone on to vent to the girls in the year and any other Ravenclaw who would stand still long enough to talk to.

Either way whoever's fault it was…

'Anastase, you have to apologise', Decebal's flat expression broke no argument.

'He's right', Tregereth said softly, 'We both do.'

Anastase groaned, 'I know, I know. Really is it totally my fault that I'm the most socially blind person in the history of the world though? I had thought that we'd made it clear that we didn't want to be friends with them, and they just kept talking and…I lost my temper.'

'And hexed Goldstein's feet backwards', Tregereth added quietly.

'With our parents as role models?' Decebal snorted in answer to Anastase's query, 'Absolutely not, but that doesn't solve the problem of the pair of you drawing far too much attention to yourselves.'

The three boys, plus a rather distant Locryn, had been sitting at a table in the library working on their weekend homework when Tregereth had tentatively brought the topic of the first-years unfortunate situation up.

'Well at least we all know that my mother won't be too concerned if she gets a letter about it', Anastase stated glumly as he glared at his History essay.

Locryn shook his head and refocused on them before he tugged the parchment away from Anastase, 'You sort the dorm situation at dinnertime. Just go over to them, say that you don't know how to talk to people, tell them that you were told how rude you sounded, apologise, and walk off again. Simple as that', the silver-haired boy began to read through Anastase's work, 'They'll end up feeling sorry for you by the time you've gotten back to Tregereth. You also need to mention how much of a complete failure the Werewolf Code of Conduct was. I know it's not very flattering, but you lose marks if you don't. I think it's one of the few places in the course that the Ministry admits that they made a mistake.'

'Really', Anastase demanded eagerly, 'I wonder why that is? That's why I didn't put it in because any flaws are usually glossed over. I suppose that they had to put something in, or the public would start accusing them of propaganda. I mean, anybody with half a brain knows that they do use it, but I can't imagine that the M.O.M would want to advertise the fact.'

He paused for breath after he answered his own question.

Locryn blinked before turning to Decebal, 'That got very intense, very fast. Is he always like this? I seem to recall most of our conversations following a similar pattern.'

'Oh, you've never met the twins of course', Decebal chucked, 'It's a bit of a family trait according to Mum. Talking to Radoslav, Anastase and the twins' father, was apparently like being repeatedly hit over the head with stunning spells.'

'I am not that bad', Anastase spluttered indignantly, 'I got a bit enthusiastic, that's all. I am a Ravenclaw.'

Not to mention, he'd wanted to try and engage Locryn in a bit of conversation. Over the week, the second-year had become more and more detached from the group, and Anastase could remember Locryn's words on the train, "I'm pretty unsociable most of the time" and "I would never have bothered to remember you". The last thing Anastase, or Decebal, needed was for Locryn to drift away from now that he knew so much.

'Exactly', Tregereth backed him up, 'We can get excited about anything we want. Even if it is ovomancy!'

Anastase doubled over laughing at the reminder of Hilliard's pompous welcoming speech. Their cousins stared at them in confusion.

'What is ovomancy, when it comes to that?' Decebal began.

'And why is it so funny?' Locryn ended.

'Ovomancy is a form of Divination', Tregereth explained, 'You break eggs and depending on how the yolk falls, you can tell certain things. I surprised you didn't know that Locryn. I thought I told you.'

Anastase, who had re-emerged from under the table, chimed in again, 'It's hilarious because it was part of Hilliard's grand talk on "Why Ravenclaws are the Best!". If you believe him, we could spend all our days cracking eggs and researching the magical properties of troll snot, and no one would so much as bat an eyelid! Seeing as I can't even be a grumpy codger for a week without starting a riot, I think he was overexaggerating just a tiny bit', sarcasm oozed from every word.

The older boys met each other's eyes.

'I think, that I am now sort of glad that I was never considered for Ravenclaw', Decebal mock whispered.

'Me too', Locryn smirked, 'And would the rest of our houses have a conniption if they heard us agree on something!'

Tregereth rolled his eyes, 'We're not all that bad. I think he was doing his best to sell the place as the most awesome house in Hogwarts…not the geek den. I mean they all have reputations and granted Slytherin definitely gets it the worst, but really Gryffindor is the only place that doesn't have any major bad points to its name.'

Anastase nodded, 'Slytherins are all evil, Hufflepuffs are boring and stupid, and Ravenclaws are know-it-alls who never do anything besides study. Gryffindor is portrayed as pretty perfect. Technically anybody with sentience can tell that being brave is being reckless idiots, who love getting in trouble, but the average eleven-year-old isn't going to think that, are they?'

No', Decebal began, 'But we've gone off-topic now and don't think I didn't notice what you'd done Anastase! You need to sort out your dorm and soon, promise?'

'Yes', Anastase sighed, 'Promisiune, văr. Fericit?'

'Anastase! You know I don't speak Romanian!' Decebal scowled at him, 'I will presume that was an agreement, understood?'

'Da', was Anastase's cheeky reply, 'That means "yes" by the way.'

'How come you don't understand Romanian when Anastase speaks it fluently?' Tregereth asked, looking at Decebal quizzically.

Decebal smiled at him, 'My parents might be strange and mixed up in everything, but they are far more normal than Aunt Irinel. They did their best to integrate themselves into British life, and that included the language. I don't think they thought that my brother and I would ever need to know it, after all, it's not very common here. Aunt Irinel though, she wanted to remember her parents more and also Radoslav, he spoke Romanian a lot, so I guess she wanted to keep his memory alive too.'

Anastase huffed, 'My mother is totally wacky – and that's before we go into the really mad stuff!'

'Speaking of mad stuff', Decebal suddenly gave him a serious look, 'You haven't started messing around with potions yet, have you?'

'Umm, why do you want to know?' Anastase was evasive.

'Because I do not want to get up one morning to the news that you've just been expelled for poisoning someone!' Decebal exclaimed, 'I remember when you almost killed the twins and we don't need an encore.'

'What did you poison them with?' Locryn seemed perversely fascinated.

Tregereth was horrified with both of them, 'How can you ask that?!' he demanded, 'I assume they were alright, but why would you do that? What things do you do?'

Anastase shrugged, 'It was a genuine mistake, as far as Mamă knows. I was experimenting and well, I might have wanted to test it. They were conveniently nearby and easy to pursued. It was a pity that they almost died but I was eight! So please a bit of leeway. I did not know what I was doing or how dangerous it was', he paused, 'Oh, and Locryn, it was a modified Draft of Living Death. I was doing NEWT potions when I was eight.'

'Well, that explains why you're a Ravenclaw then', Locryn joked, 'You must be a protégée.'

'Doubt it', Anastase disagreed, 'I'm good because I've had loads of practice. I want to see how good one of the Muggle-borns get because that's the only way to find someone truly talented.'

'Better come over to Gryffindor some time', Decebal sniffed, 'One of the first-year girls, Granger, is driving the whole year round the twist because she's such a swot. Even the Saintly Potter doesn't seem to be trying to befriend her.'

'Does she need some then?' Locryn inquired.

'I think she's a bit lonely, yeah', Decebal sighed, 'It's sad really because she can't help herself.'

'Whatever', Anastase interrupted, 'It doesn't matter, it's not our problem, and it's now dinner time. I'll give a freaking apology okay?! Bye!'

Tregereth muttered under his breath as he sped after Anastase.

'Slow down would you!' he panted as he caught up, 'You're as bad as Velius.'

Anastase stopped and turned to him, 'What is it with you and Locryn calling my stuff and comparing me to rather unflattering things?'

Tregereth flung his hands up in mock surrender, 'No need to get mad. It was just a joke.'

'Oh, sorry', Anastase stared at the floor, a flush crawling up his neck.

'You didn't know', Tregereth realised, 'You did not know. I really hate your mother Anastase. She must be a complete bitch.'

He bit his lip nervously after he said that. Swearing was not his usual self at all, and his Mum would have washed his mouth out with soap if she'd ever heard him say "bitch".

Anastase wrapped his arms around himself, 'You're right. You are. The only thing is, I don't think she knows it. Before this year, she was the same. You knew where you stood, she wasn't very loving, but she did her best. Over the summer…she was, unstable. She would go between screaming at us, and throwing herself over us like that.'

Anastase snapped his fingers to demonstrate.

'I'm glad you're not with her anymore', Tregereth said firmly, 'And I can't wait until your brothers are here too. Then you'll be seventeen and you can get away permanently.'

Anastase hummed in agreement as they entered the Great Hall, 'If she hasn't killed herself anyway.'

Tregereth nudged him hard, 'Forget about her. You need to start talking. Look, Boot and Corner are sitting at the end. They're not too bad and if things end terribly we can scoot off. You ready?'

'If I say no?' Anastase half pleaded.

'In your own words "whatever"', Tregereth was remorseless as he hounded Anastase over.

The other boys looked like started deer spotting a wolf. Both of them straightening up and tensing.

Tregereth poked Anastase, 'Get on with it. For the second time', he added snarkily.

Anastase glared, 'Boot, Corner. Sorry again. I'm an antisocial prick. Don't pelt me with ovomancy eggs', he sent pleading eyes at Tregereth, 'Am I done?'

The blond dropped his head onto the table and let out a muffled scream of frustration.

Boot looked alarmed, 'Uh, you really don't get the whole speaking, apologising, or communicating with people in general thing, do you?'

'It took you all so long', Anastase drawled, 'Here I thought Ravenclaws were smart. Guess I should have gone to Slytherin after all. Locryn got that right away.'

Tregereth blinked, 'The hat wanted you in Slytherin? How did you end up here?'

'It said I could have been a Slytherin, but it did say that Ravenclaw was my "best bet"' Anastase said, 'I would have eaten the Hufflepuff alive, and the Gryffindors were to goody-two-shoes for me.'

'You can sit down if you want', Corner invited them, 'I think it's pretty clear by now, that Atarescu is just social blind, deaf, and dumb, and that isn't going to change overnight. As you said, we are Ravenclaws and we know a lost battle when we see one, so there's no point holding a grudge.'

Anastase plonked down on the bench, 'Would Goldstein agree with that?'

Boot laughed, 'Now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure his belief has something about an "eye for an eye" so he might be a bit grumpy with you. On the other hand, most religions have a forgiveness aspect to them. You might have to wait a bit, is all I'm saying!'

'Nothings ever easy', Tregereth commented, 'How he endeared himself to my cousin I haven't got a clue. Locryn's in Slytherin', he explained, 'And is almost as bad as Anastase at conversation. Their first meeting must have been so awkward.'

Anastase chewed his tongue to prevent himself from pointing out that Tregereth knew full well that the first meeting had been very awkward, but not because of lack of talk.

'Well, I was having a breakdown over my sister', he dropped in, vaguely hoping this was the right move, 'So it was a bit strange.'

'Did something happen to your sister then?' Corner asked.

'I swear I've explained this so many times this summer', Anastase muttered, 'She had an accident when she was a baby, and she's been in the Janus Thickly Ward in St Mungo's for the past seven years. My Mamă, uh, Mum, and I went to see her in June. There was a bit of a hoo-ha and I ran out. Locryn saw me crying on the stairs and I basically gave him a sob story.'

A thump behind him made him turn. Goldstein was standing next to the table with a dumbstruck expression on his face.

'So, you've decided to play nicely now?' he jabbed at Anastase.

'I've already said I'm a prick', Anastase stated absently, 'But can I point out that he, is in fact, also a prick? Or is that being rude again?'

'Rude', Tregereth said, 'But unless he stops posturing, true. So there's that to it.'

Goldstein went red. Boot sighed.

'Anthony, stop. He's said sorry and I must say that he hasn't tried to hide that he's incredibly socially inept', he shot Anastase an apologetic look, 'If I didn't know better, I'd say he might have, well', he leaned forward and gestured Goldstein closer.

The other boy bent over to him, before jerking back.

'Oh, right, um, sorry', he directed the last word to Anastase, 'I am being a pain. I was offended, to be honest. You were very…'

'Rude and abrupt', Tregereth supplied, 'I've told him.'

As Tregereth and the other boys started chattering, Anastase tuned out. One of the current hot topics for gossip at the moment was Harry Potter. Despite his near-constant disdain for the skinny, dark-haired Gryffindor Anastase didn't really have a problem with him. What he did have a problem with was the hero worship that was associated with "The Boy-Who-Lived". Frankly, Anastase failed to see what was so special about even before he had been able to observe Potter in person. It was quite plain to him, that whatever had gone down on 31st October 1981, chances were it had been something that Lily and James Potter had done that had brought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named down. Not, Anastase thought as he glanced over at the Gryffindor table, a year and a half old baby. Having now met the so-called saviour, Anastase was even more doubtful. Potter was nothing spectacular, seemed totally ignorant of wizarding culture – or so Locryn said, the older Slytherin complaining that Draco Malfoy, another first-year, had been whining about Potter refusing his friendship in favour of Weasley, and decidedly average in talent – though not as bad as Longbottom, who had melted his cauldron into slag in the very first potions class.

Off the top of his head, Anastase could list at least ten people in first-year alone who would be able to pound Potter into the ground both literally and figuratively: himself, Tregereth, Boot, Padma Patil, Susan Bones, Ernest Macmillan, Theodore Nott, Tracy Davis, and Hermione Granger. There are probably more as well, most of Ravenclaw for academic ability, and Slytherin for wizarding knowledge. The other two houses it would depend more on the individual but those were the broad strokes. In short not special, not epically powerful, just a normal eleven-year-old boy with an unfortunate family background.

Anastase snorted at the thought, put like that, you could have been talking about him! Tregereth raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head, dismissing the thought. What a load of tosh. He needed to clear his mind, or he'd end up daydreaming after Potter like one of his fangirls!

Anastase was pulled out of his thoughts when Decebal dropped down next to him.

'I see you've made up', he commented, 'Having a nice time are you?' Decebal directed the last towards the, now gaping, boys.

They hadn't paid each other enough attention for Boot, Corner, and Goldstein to notice Decebal and Locryn sporadically tagging onto the Ravenclaws, passing on gossip, and advice.

'Uh, yeah, great', Corner squeaked.

'I don't bite you know', Decebal sounded amused.

'He's my cousin', Anastase informed them, 'He tends to be rather unsociable himself but he's not nearly as blunt as me.'

'Along with my cousin, Locryn, he was the one who persuaded Anastase to apologise to you yet again', Tregereth said.

'Will you shut up about that?' Anastase sniped, 'You all sound like broken records. I get it, point made, lesson over, okay?'

Locryn tapped him on the shoulder, 'You're not helping yourself. Getting annoyed just proves our point, and, not trying to offend you or anything, you do overreact a bit. One minute you're made of ice, the next you're spitting flames. It kind of gives you whiplash, you get me?'

'No', Anastase replied, 'I don't understand, and guess what? I don't care to understand either. The hat said that Gryffindor was the house that would be too righteous but I'm beginning to feel Ravenclaw is worse! Save your breath and either go tell someone who is actually bothered by their lack of social skills, I believe Granger could use the advice, or talk about something more worthwhile like how to not hack Professor Snape off.'

He was panting as though he'd run a race after his tirade, his face flushed.

Decebal gave Locryn a hard look, 'Right, you with me, please. I need to talk to you.'

The redhead fairly hauled Locryn out of the Great Hall, garnering a few odd looks from other tables as they left.

Tregereth slammed his hand against the table hard enough that he knocked over a goblet of pumpkin juice which made them all jump up to avoid being splashed.

'What was that for?' Corner cried out, 'Don't tell me you're getting angry too.'

'Oh, I, sorry', Tregereth rubbed a hand over his face looking ashamed, 'Here I thought we were doing so well, Anastase. Now I need to apologise to my pig-headed cousin. He's such a – argh!' he cut himself off with a frustrated yell.

Anastase covered a smile, 'Tregereth, I think we'd better go back to Ravenclaw tower, we're attracting some funny looks', he grasped the still muttering Tregereth's arm and towed him away from the table, 'See you lot around sometime. Have fun or something while we're gone!'

Anastase guided Tregereth out into the Entrance Hall where the blond pulled free and kicked the wall.

'Ow!'

Anastase whirled back at the yelp of pain, 'What did you do?', he stared before marching over, 'Did you just break your toe kicking the wall?'

Tregereth moaned, 'I don't know but that really hurt!' he gingerly prodded his foot, 'Ouch, I think I felt something move that shouldn't be moving.'

'That serves you right', Anastase scolded, 'It's my job to throw tantrums and yours to pull me off, not the other way round! Though I will point out that I've never broken a toe kicking a wall before.'

'To quote "shut up"', Tregereth retorted grumpily, 'Now help me get up to the hospital wing. I'll never make it like this!'

Anastase laughed the whole way up and only stopped when they got to the door of the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey, the school matron, hurried over to them, 'Oh dear, looks like a broken toe. How did this happen?'

The pair shared an embarrassed look.

'Err', Tregereth began, 'I, um.'

'What he's getting at', Anastase picked up the pieces of Tregereth's stuttering, 'Is that there was a bit of an incident in the Great Hall with our cousins, and Tregereth lost his rag and kicked a wall. A bit awarded as you can imagine.'

Her face was expressionless, 'I certainly do see. Now, this can be fixed in a trice.'

Tregereth watched in relief as she simply waved her wand at the offending toe and murmured a spell.

'Oh, that's much better. Thank you', he wiggled his toes in surprise at how quick and painless it had been.

'Not to worry dear', Madam Pomfrey smiled, 'I've seen much worse.'

As they made their way out and restarted the journey to the dorm, Tregereth turned to Anastase, 'You were right. Keeping the other boys out of this would be so much easier!'

'Yes, I agree', Anastase said, 'But our main effort at the moment is to blend in, and that's up to Decebal.'


End file.
